FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hamilton, ON – Hamilton Health Sciences’ decision to cut 37 nurses and health care aides from surgical units and operating rooms will delay care for about 30,000 people waiting for surgeries in the region, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
Last week, HHS notified CUPE about the first wave of 413 staff cuts at the hospitals: 97 eliminations of health care workers across the hospital including surgical units and operating rooms.
Jillian Watt, president of CUPE 7800, says the government should be ashamed of abandoning its responsibility to provide timely access to care for Hamilton residents.
“These cuts will prolong wait-times for patients who desperately require surgical care,” says Jillian Watt, president of CUPE 7800. “Due to staffing shortages there is a significant backlog of patients awaiting surgeries, including many who waiting for treatment beyond medically recommended timelines. Our operating rooms are already closed due to understaffing and for hip procedures, for example, HHS only meets 48% of the wait time targets for hip surgeries.”
As HHS serves about 2.3 million people in Ontario, the union estimates that about 30,000 people are awaiting surgeries in Hamilton and surrounding areas, with approximately 7,000 of them waiting beyond medically recommended timelines.
While many surgical procedures are performed within a reasonable time frame, Watt argues that there is clearly room for improvement that can be addressed through better funding, which would allow the hospital to employ additional staff and expand operating room hours.
“Sylvia Jones (the health minister) claims that staffing cuts won’t impact services. I would like the health minister to say that to the people who don’t receive an urgently required surgery on time because HHS had a staffing shortage,” Watt says.
Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Unions (OCHU-CUPE), attributes these staffing eliminations to the government’s three per cent funding cut in the fiscal year 2026-27.
“These staffing cuts are the direct result of the Ford government forcing HHS into a $150 million deficit through real funding cuts of 2 per cent last year and 2.7 per cent this year” he says. “Even before these cuts, wait times at HHS were long. Now they will be even longer. Our patients deserve timely, quality care and we will continue to fight hard for that for them.”
CUPE 7800 is planning a town hall meeting on November 10 at 6 p.m. at the United Steelworkers Hall (1031 Barton St. E.), for members of the public to discuss the impact of these cuts and to participate in the campaign for appropriate hospital funding.
For more information, contact:
Zee Noorsumar, CUPE Communications
znoorsumar@cupe.ca
647-995-9859
