If the election campaign commitments of the new provincial government are realized hallway medicine won’t be fixed and the results will be fewer beds and less staff.

That’s the word from Michael Hurley, the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.

He says overall 3,700 beds and over 16,000 jobs could be impacted and North Bay’s hospital won’t be immune to the cuts.

“And the impact of that would be 37 beds cut here and 156 staff,” he says.
He says those numbers are at the high end with North Bay losing between 21-37 beds and 71-156 jobs.

Hurley says the most efficient hospital system in the country is in Ontario.

“The leanest with the fewest beds and the fewest staff. 85 % of every dollar the province injects into this hospital is spent on staffing costs. You can’t make cuts without cutting staff,” Hurley says.

He believes hallway medicine can end by increasing funding to the North Bay Regional Health Centre by over 5 per cent.

Hurley says the result if these cuts come to fruition will be longer wait times.

Hurley says the cost to the government per patients stay at the North Bay Regional Health Centre is below the provincial average now by about $90 at $5,270.

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