Facing closure of its hospital, Bracebridge a symbol of the health care crisis facing rural Ontario communities

OCHU-CUPE to hold media conference outside Bracebridge Hospital on Monday at 10:00 a.m.

BRACEBRIDGE, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On the eve of the provincial election, a line-up of hospital stretchers outside Bracebridge Hospital will symbolize the crisis in Ontario’s health care:

- 1,860 people on stretchers in hospital hallways, up from 826 in June 2018 when the Premier promised to end hallway medicine.
- 2.5 million citizens without a family doctor
- Palliative home care patients dying without painkillers and medical supplies
- 250,000 people waiting for surgeries
- Nearly 50,000 people waiting for long-term care
- Constant ER closures in small towns

“The crisis in health care affects almost every family,” says Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE). “The entire health care sector is staggering. There is no end to the staffing shortages; ER closures, waits for surgeries or for long-term care beds or for a family doctor or for appropriate home care services. We hope to help ensure that this election focuses on solutions to this crisis.”

In 2023, Muskoka Algonquin Health Care (MAHC) operated at 90.7% capacity, well above the 85 per cent recommended maximum bed occupancy level. According to analysis by OCHU-CUPE, MAHC must add 19 beds to achieve safe occupancy levels.

The latest data for MAHC shows that ER patients, on average, wait 23.7 hours, with only 23% of them admitted within the target time of eight hours.

The union warns that cutbacks are already happening at numerous hospitals, including Hamilton, Guelph, and Burlington, as they buckle under the weight of growing patient volumes and insufficient funding.

Pointing out that per-person hospital funding in Ontario is the lowest in Canada and that we have the fewest beds and hospital staff to population, Hurley says it is not surprising to witness a record increase in hospital overcrowding.

About 2,000 patients every day receive care on stretchers in unconventional spaces such as hallways and storage closets, an increase of 125 per cent since June 2018 when Ford got elected on the promise to end hallway health care.

Hurley says hospital overcrowding compromises patient and staff safety, causing delays in admitting patients, higher risk of nosocomial infections, and heavier workloads. Moreover, it robs patients of dignity as they are treated out in hallways without privacy.

“There were 250,000 people on wait lists for surgeries last year” Hurley says. “2,000 are on stretchers today, begging for a bed. Palliative patients die at home without painkillers. As a province, we must do so much better for our citizens.”

“The next government must implement real solutions.”

The union recommends the following solutions to address the health care crisis:

- Improve hospital capacity to match the needs of an ageing and growing population, by adding staffed hospital beds.
- Address the staffing crisis by improving compensation and working conditions, and providing incentives such as free tuition to students in nursing and PSW programs
- End private sector delivery of acute, long-term care and community health services
- Ban agency nurses to reduce staffing costs, and invest that money in improving compensation and working conditions for in-house workers
- Improving staffing in LTC to meet the 4-hours of daily care benchmark and expand capacity to reduce waitlists
- End contracting out of services across health care, and run LTC and home care on a public, not-for-profit basis
- Expand the use of nurse practitioners to lead primary care clinics

Who:	Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU- CUPE)
	Sharon Richer, OCHU secretary-treasurer
What:	A line-up of hospital stretchers to warn about the health care crisis
Where:	South Muskoka Memorial Hospital, 75 Ann St, Bracebridge
When:	10 a.m. on Monday, February 10