Protestors demand more hospital funding
Protesters demonstrate in front of MPP David Piccini's office, demanding increased funding for hospitals. By Dan Jones, Northumberland 89.7 FM News
By: Dan Jones, Northumberland 89.7 FM News
Approximately two dozen people protested Tuesday morning in front of Northumberland Peterborough-South MPP David Piccini’s constituency office in Port Hope, demanding increased funding for hospitals.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) organized the rally. David Hurley, President of the Ontario Council of Hospitals said the provincial government has asked hospitals to prepare a three-year budget with funding increases of two percent each year. However, he said hospitals need at least six percent each year to meet their needs.
“The Financial Accountability Office predicts that funding, a 10 percent cut in real terms over three years, will mean the loss of about 7000 nurses and 1800 personal support workers and the loss of 2400 beds,” explained Hurley.
How that will impact health care in Northumberland County is already being felt, Hurley claims as job cuts will exacerbate significant wait times and back up surgeries even more.
“The 2025 budget spending plan is below the Financial Accountability Office’s cost driver projection by $3.4 billion in 2025-26, $6.4 billion in 2026-27 and $9.6 billion in 2027-28. This means that the Province will need to implement health sector efficiencies (i.e., provide the same level of services with less resources) and/or commit additional funding to the health sector to maintain 2024-25 service levels,” said an October 2025 health report by the Financial Accountability Office.
A report presented last week by Northumberland Hills Hospital CEO Susan Walsh said that the hospital was operating at 125 to 130 percent capacity for December and January. She explained that the hospital was at a critical point and using unconventional ways to find additional support. The hospital is now implementing a temporary overtime strategy.
As the province prepares its provincial budget, expected to be delivered later this spring, Hurley said letters and correspondence to the health minister have gone unanswered.
Piccini said in an interview that dollar figures do not always represent a true picture of health care investment. He notes that the provincial government has expanded funding by 52 percent, and in Northumberland that translates to a new hospital in Campbellford, with planning now underway. He said expansion of home care, paramedicine, and finding ways to lower emergency room and hospital wait times.
“We are working with the hospitals and the hospital associations to ensure they have the resources they need to deliver high quality care,” he explained.
In referencing the Financial Accountability Office’s report, Piccini said that report is a snapshot in time and does not account for future health investments. He adds an announcement from his office regarding health care is coming soon.
