The President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions predicts there will be job losses, longer wait times and reduced services at the Picton Hospital.
Michael Hurley mentioned Picton and four other small Ontario hospitals at a news conference in Toronto yesterday, as several unions expressed concerns about hospital funding increases of 2.4 per cent last year, a full point below the inflation rate.
The unions predict five-thousand healthcare jobs and nine-million hours of patient care could be lost if underfunding continues.
Hurley didn’t suggest any hospitals would close, despite their financial problems.
