Health Sciences North can expect another round of cuts due to a funding shortage from the province, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
In a new report called “Fewer Hands Less Hospital Care” the union said other provinces spend 25.3 per cent more on acute hospital care, on average, than Ontario.
According to data from the Canadian Institute of Health Information, CUPE said the rest of Canada spends $1,749 per capita on hospital care, compared to $1,395 per capita in Ontario.
“There's going to be another round of cuts at Health Sciences North,” said Micheal Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, which bargains collective agreements on behalf of CUPE hospital workers. “We already have the smallest capacity of any of any of the health care systems in terms of beds, staff for those beds and length of stay.”
Hurley said the one per cent increase Ontario hospitals received in the March provincial budget for their operations fall short of the 4.5 per cent increase they have seen in their costs – due to salary gains for doctors and staff, inflation, and cost increases for drugs and equipment.
In 2005-2006 Hurley said hospital care in Ontario was funded to around the same level as the rest of Canada, but corporate tax cuts Premier Dalton McGuinty introduced around that time have led to an annual funding shortage.
Hurley said the province should review its policy of having the lowest corporate tax rate in North America.
“It's not sustainable fiscally,” he said.
In June, Health Sciences North reported its fourth consecutive balanced budget for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016.
Hospital revenues were up to $451 million, compared to nearly $441 million in the previous fiscal year, or about a two per cent increase – more than the overall provincial increase in for hospital care, but less than the real rate of inflation, according to CUPE.
During the hospital's last fiscal year salaries were up four per cent, or $8 million, compared to the previous fiscal year due to a labour rate increase and the impact of increased patient activity.
The hospital also spent $56 million on employee benefits, $59 million on supplies and $28 million on specifically funded programs.
Hurley said the cuts in acute care have not been met by a corresponding increase in home and community care.
“Our study shows that we're (Ontario) 14.3 per cent under the average of the other provinces in terms of our home care spending,” he said.
