Northern Ontario hospitals in desperate need of staff and beds, CUPE report finds

A new report from the Canadian Union of Public Employees says funding projections for hospitals would leave the North Bay Regional Health Centre short of nearly 100 beds.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, union leaders slammed the Doug Ford government for what they describe as a failure to provide hospitals with the support they need.

Although the health-care sector has struggled to keep pace with demand for several years, a new report titled, No Respite: Ontario’s Failure To Plan For Hospital Patients, based on data from CUPE and the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), found more patients are receiving hallway emergency care.

“We don't have enough hospital staff and as a result, we have this crisis of capacity,” OCHU president Michael Hurley told reporters Monday.

“Which is felt by people in terms of long waits in the ERs. It's felt in terms of being doomed to being on a stretcher for days.”

Ontario currently has 2.23 hospital beds per 1,000 people, which is marginally lower than the 2.25 beds it had just before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019.

With more shortfalls across the board than ever before, according to Ontario health data, the number of patients receiving hallway health care has risen by 25 per cent since June 2018.

“The premier said that he would end hallway medicine in the last provincial election,” Hurley said.

A new report from the Canadian Union of Public Employees says funding projections for hospitals would leave the North Bay Regional Health Centre short of nearly 100 beds. At a news conference Monday afternoon, union leaders slammed the Doug Ford government for what they describe as a failure to provide hospitals with the support they need. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

Despite recent funding announced by the Ontario government to increase bed capacity by 3,000, CUPE’s recent report projected inadequate health-care spending will create a gap in funding that will result in a shortfall of nearly 14,000 beds and 80,000 staff by 2032.

In North Bay, that translates to a shortage of 600 staff and 80 beds in the next decade. Sudbury would need 160 more beds and 1,200 more staff.

“Mr. Ford did promise he would address it and unfortunately, it's worsened significantly under his leadership,” Hurley said.

“So I think we have a right to look to him for solutions.”

The report found the province needs to spend an additional $2 billion annually to maintain current levels of service.

For hospitals in the north, that would mean annual top-up funding of $39 million for Health Sciences North; $21 million for the North Bay Regional Health Centre; and, $16.2 million for the Sault Area Hospital.

Hurley said the hospital crisis blame lies with all previous governments, regardless of which party was in power at the time.

Despite recent funding announced by the Ontario government to increase bed capacity by 3,000, CUPE’s recent report projected inadequate health-care spending will create a gap in funding that will result in a shortfall of nearly 14,000 beds and 80,000 staff by 2032. (Photo from video)

“You can track back decisions to close hospital beds to the Rae government, the Peterson government, McGuinty and Wynne, Harris and Ford. I mean, all of them have made these decisions to close hospitals,” he said.

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Hurley said the current state of hospitals is severely affecting seniors over the age of 65.

“These people need the system to be there for them. They've contributed to it and they've been supporting it for years,” he said.

“This really is the moral problem that that this government faces, which is ‘Are we going to turn our back on those people?’”

In a statement to CTV News, the Ministry of Health said more than 50 hospital development projects are underway across the province, building on the more than 3,500 hospital beds added since 2020.

“Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government has made record investments in our health-care system, investing over $85 billion this year alone, a 31 per cent increase from 2018,” ministry spokesperson Hannah Jensen wrote in an email.

“We have increased our investment across the hospital sector by four per cent for a record two years in a row.”

CTV News also reached out to the hospital for comment. No response was provided by deadline.