Ford cuts health care roles amid ongoing health care crisis

NICKEL BELT and HAMILTON – Ontario NDP Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Addictions Dr. Robin Lennox (Hamilton Centre) and Shadow Minister for Health , France Gélinas (Nickel Belt) released the following statement in response to the Ontario Nurses’ Association’s latest report on nursing cuts:

“The numbers are staggering,” said MPP Lennox. “269 workload complaint forms filed in the first six months of this year, compared to 140 last year in one single hospital. These complaints are a warning sign that nurses are being pushed beyond capacity, and patients are paying the price. While nurses are fighting to provide the quality care their patients deserve, Doug Ford and his Conservatives continue to underfund our public health care system and force hospitals, health care workers, and patients to bear the consequences of their choices.”

“The Ontario Nurses Association made it very clear: what is happening in our hospitals is a tsunami of cuts,” said MPP Gélinas. “What kind of government allows registered nurses and health care professionals to be cut from our hospitals when patients are already struggling to access care? Do they expect to turn our hospitals into a self-checkout counter, where patients are left to navigate their own care? It is disgraceful that Doug Ford and his Minister of Health continue to avoid accountability, only to blame hospitals for the impossible decisions they are forced to make after years of inadequate funding.”