Media Advisory - Monday rally at Brockville General steps up campaign against hospital cuts

BROCKVILLE, ON, April 12, 2015 /CNW/ - Unions and community groups will hold a rally on April 13 at 12:30 p.m. at the Brockville General Hospital (Pearl Street) as part of an escalating, campaign against cutbacks at the Brockville General Hospital.

The hospital is cutting services and closing its laundry, in the face of a 5-year funding freeze imposed by the provincial Liberal government. Hospitals need  6% increases in funding each year just to keep pace with their costs, which are rising faster than the general rate of inflation due to the costs of drugs, medical technologies and doctors' salaries. The freeze has cut Brockville General Hospital's budget by 24% in real terms. Ontario hospitals were already the most efficient hospitals in the country with the fewest beds and staff and the shortest lengths of stay going into the budget freeze.

" Brockville General Hospital has strong support in the community and we hope to organize that support to put pressure on the Liberal government. Other communities that have spoken up strongly have been successful in getting urgently needed funding from the provincial government " says Louis Rodrigues, eastern Ontario Vice-president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE.

" Together with the Ontario Healthcare Coalition, we are planning an escalating campaign across eastern Ontario to push the provincial government to fund hospitals like Brockville General Hospital properly.  A town hall meeting will be held in Brockville on May 28 at 7 p.m. We are lobbying city council and planning a regional rally in Ottawa" says Martha Godin, president of the CUPE local at the hospital.

SOURCE Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (CUPE)

Martha Godin, President, C.U.P.E. Local 5666: [phone]; Louis Rodrigues, Eastern Ontario Vice-president, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE: 613-531-1319