A hospital union is warning of bed and staff shortages in Ontario are continuing, and will only get worse, as under-funding continues.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), held a Windsor roundtable Thursday to discuss how the funding of Ontario hospitals and health care is affecting staff and patients.
According to CUPE, the province has laid out an eight-year spending plan that will cripple the public health system with more than $18-billion in cuts.
Union researcher Doug Allan tells The Afternoon News that the province is already short 45,000 healthcare workers.
"There's 20 per cent more hospital staff per capita in the rest of Canada than in Ontario," he added.
He says there will be 800 fewer healthcare staff over the next eight years in Windsor-Essex alone.
"Operating with 15.3 per cent staff or, in the case of Windsor-Essex, 800 fewer employees would be a disaster," he says.
Allan says comparing hospital stays and outcomes in Ontario to the rest of the country make's things abundantly clear.
"One way that has to be recognized is through the very short stays in hospitals," he says. "You are kicked out quicker and sicker from Ontario hospitals."
Ontario's 2021 budget plans to cut COVID-19 healthcare funding by $3.25-billion.
Allan says $18-billion is projected to be cut over the next eight years if the trend is allowed to continue.