The CUPE division of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions says some dire numbers could be looming after hospital cuts.
Premier Doug Ford says a $90-million investment will help the hospital system deal with overcrowding - claiming the money will fund hundreds of hospital beds across the province ahead of flu season.
Union President Michael Hurley says over the next three-years cuts under the Tories will result in the loss of 3,500-beds and 16,500-staff.
"It will be the creation of some permanent beds, but the overall impact is what the previous government had announced in the form of 1,200 beds will be 600 beds by the time the dust has cleared," he says. "It's a rather significant cut actually."
According to Hurley, Windsor could see up to 80 beds and 340 jobs leave over the next three years.
He says funding now won't end the overflow of patients into hallways and other unsuitable spaces long-term.
"Unless the government reconsiders its commitment to cut spending by 4% to eliminate the deficit and some of the other financial items that they've decided to take on, all of which are stacking up to mean huge cuts are coming by year three of their mandate," says Hurley.
He says long-term numbers don't support the province's mandate to end the overflow of patients into hallways.
"If hospitals are the single largest item of provincial government spending, when the government makes the cuts it needs to meet these spending targets will the hospitals be spared? You'd have to say no, not historically, and certainly not by the previous conservative government," says Hurley.