The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) says 13 of the layoffs announced last week at the North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC) involve registered nurses.
They also warn thousands more could lose their jobs across the province in the next couple of years.
The ONA says a new report from Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office (FAO) released last week reveals that if the Ford government fails to improve health-care funding, 7,263 nurses could be cut by 2027-28.
“Cutting 7,200 nurses from front-line care across all sectors will be a calamity for people in this province,” says Erin Ariss, RN, and ONA Provincial President. “Ontario is desperately short of nursing care across all sectors, and we are already seeing registered nurses being cut, including 13 of them in North Bay just last week. With this new projection, we can see health care getting worse for our patients, residents and clients.”
To achieve annual budget savings of $5.6 million, NBRHC announced job cuts, an increase in parking rates and other measures will take place over the next six months.
40 positions are being eliminated, although the health centre says the number of employees impacted could be much lower based on new positions (14 roles) offers of early exit, retirements, and more.
