Protest at the Montfort Hospital in Ottawa as cutbacks hit patient services

OTTAWA, Sept. 24, 2015 /CNW/ - CUPE will hold a demonstration at noon on Friday September 25, at the front entrance of the Montfort Hospital (713 Montreal Road, Ottawa). The demonstration will protest cuts to services and staff at the hospital.

The Montfort hospital is cutting services in the face of a 5-year funding freeze imposed by the provincial Liberal government. Ontario's Auditor General has estimated that hospitals need a 5.8% increase 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 Montfort hospital's budget by over 20% 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.

"Staff at the Montfort love our hospital and treasure its role serving the francophone community and we protest these cuts with great reluctance," says Laurin Levesque, president of CUPE Local 4271." The government of Ontario's hospital budget cuts hurt the quality of patient care at the Montfort. Our protest calls on the Liberal government's Ottawa ministers to speak up for the Montfort, at the cabinet table. "

SOURCE Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (CUPE)

Laurin Levesque, President, C.U.P.E. Local 4721: 647-921-7895; Michael Hurley, President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE: 416-884-0770; Stella Yeadon, CUPE Communications: 416-559-9300