NHH pledges no cut to services despite deficit

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By Cecilia Nasmith

With the Northumberland Hills Hospital 2025-2026 fiscal year ended March 31, the board heard at its April meeting that the hospital has run a deficit of more than $14-million for that year – in other words, Finance and Audit Chair Mike McAllister said, more than $1-million a month on average.

“Do I like recommending a deficit budget? No, I don't. But I think for the same reason as last year that it's the right thing to do this year,” McAllister said.

“I am asking the board to yet again put ourselves out a little bit and approve that, with the hope that the government will come through. The only option is to cut services, and we are not going to do that.”

McAllister was referring to the deficit incurred in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which he said was even larger than the current one.

“We are in a position where we don't control the revenue side of this equation, and we are being realistic about the expense side.

“Hopefully, the government will come through, like they did the past year when they came through with one-time funding. It allowed us to rebalance the budget with a small surplus that we ended up with,” McAllister said.

“Hopefully they will come through and do it again.”

In fact, as McAllister reported at the hospital's annual general meeting last year, that fiscal year ended with a modest surplus of $800,000.

“We have been extremely diligent in cost containment over the past year,” NHH President and Chief Executive Officer Susan Walsh said, echoing McAllister's hope.

“This is not an NHH situation – it's playing out across the sector.”

Walsh noted that the province's Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, the Ontario Hospital Association and hospitals are all working together to try to address the situation.

“It's a perfect storm of challenges across the system, and we also know there's an aging population – a tripling of those over 85,” she stated.

Instead of asking for approval of the motion to accept the budget, board chair Cyndi Gilmer asked for an all-opposed show of hands. None were raised, deeming the budget accepted.