Media Clippings
CUPE warns of closing hospital beds
Queensway Carleton CEO remains optimistic
In an effort to get public support, a provincial labour union slammed the practice of rolling closures at the Queensway Carleton Hospital to make up for funding shortfalls.
In a press conference held at the national Canadian Union of Public Employees office on June 6, Local CUPE 2875 vice-president Peter Anis said that the two week closures of three operating rooms in July and August would likely result in a backlog of 240 surgeries.
The local represents the nurses and support staff at the Queensway Carleton.
During that period, emergency, cancer or wait-time targeted surgeries such as hip and knee replacements would proceed as usual, but elective procedures such as hernia operations and plastic surgery would be postponed.
Anis said when the union met with management they talked about extending the closures into December, March and February.
CUPE hospital closures. Peter Anis, the vice president of CUPE local 2875 spoke about rolling closures of operating rooms for the summer at the Queensway Carleton Hospital, during a press conference at CUPE's national office on June 6. Jennifer McIntosh
The hospital is yet to receive its funding allocation for the current fiscal year, so the closures are to make up for multi-million dollar budget shortfalls.
Anis said the closures were nothing new, with the hospital normally closing three of its eight operating rooms to accommodate vacations, but he worries with the increased use of this practice in the winter, that the hospital won’t be able to make up for the backlog of surgeries.
“It will put more pressure on the already busy times,” he said. “And if they find this formula works, what’s to stop them from making it permanent?”
Chief executive officer of the hospital, Tom Schonberg, accused CUPE of creating a grim picture.
“The original plan without knowing the budget included potential shut downs for March and February, but when I met with them last Thursday I said I was optimistic that we would be able to avoid budget-related slowdowns in December,” he said, adding that he hoped to avoid slowdowns in March and February as well.
Schonberg said that negotiations with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care would continue into June and hopefully result in a 1.5 per cent increase in the hospitals budget.
“There are monies we are going to get because of wait time strategies and monies for the expansion because of increasing patient volumes,” he said. “So I am optimistic.”
Anis said the union decided to make a public statement because public support ended up reversing the decision to use rolling closures at other Ottawa hospitals.
Michael Hurley, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions president, said that Ontario has the lowest number of hospital beds per 1,000 people of any province in the country.
He also said our hospitals are the most efficient, spending $250 less per citizen than any other province.
While Anis said he didn’t know what to suggest to the hospital to make up for the budget shortfalls, he said cancelling surgeries was not the way.
“We need to be having these surgeries,” he said.
About 50 staff will be displaced as a result of the closures and the union is currently working on re-deployment — which may mean staff working in another area of the hospital.
Anis said approximately five staff members would have to be temporarily laid off during the closure period.
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•Jennifer McIntosh - Jun 07, 2011 - 11:03 AM
Hospital scaling back ORs for the summer
JOE LOFARO
METRO NEWS
Published: June 07, 2011 5:00 a.m.
Last modified: June 06, 2011 10:37 p.m.
The Queensway Carleton Hospital is cutting back on operating rooms this summer to reduce costs, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees, a move it says will mean longer wait times for patients.
“It’s a bad time,” said Peter Anis, vice-president of CUPE Local 2875, which represents operating-room staff. “The population is growing and aging and requires more hospital services at a time when we’re decreasing the services.”
JOE LOFARO
Peter Anis, centre, of CUPE Local 2875, is worried about the impact on patients with Queensway Carleton Hospital’s plans to cut back on operating rooms this summer.
The hospital reduced the number of operating rooms last year, also to save money, and now the union fears the reduction will be permanent.
Tom Schonberg, president and CEO of Queensway, said there have been no discussions of permanent closures and he denied reports there have been a handful of permanent layoffs.
“We always have slowdowns in the summer,” he said. “There’s a number of people who do not actually want surgeries, either, during the summertime, so demand for surgeries also falls.”
While Schonberg wouldn’t rule out the possibility of rolling closures next year, he said he doesn’t want it to be standard operating procedure.
Unions warn of operating room closures
BY SCOTT TAYLOR ,OTTAWA SUN
FIRST POSTED: MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2011 5:42:25 EDT PM
Rotating closures of Queensway Carleton Hospital operating rooms might cause patients to wait months longer for elective surgeries warn unions representing hospital workers.
Peter Anis, vice-president of Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 2875, said on Monday that three of the five operating rooms the hospital runs in the summer will be dark for two weeks in each of July and August, affecting 240 elective surgeries and also raising the spectre of permanent closures and layoffs.
Anis added that the hospital will then close two rooms again next December, February and March in an effort to cut costs.
“They have not scheduled any elective general surgeries or plastic surgeries of any sort during that time,” he said. “All they will be doing is total-joint and cancer surgeries. At a time with a growing population that requires health care, it’s a bad time. The patient impact is longer wait times.”
Anis and Ontario Council of Hospital Unions president Michael Hurley said the closures will force “a handful” of layoffs and cause up to 50 more employees to be displaced.
Queensway Carleton CEO Tom Schonberg argued the charges are false.
“The part that is very annoying to me is that there has never been any such discussion about permanent closures. What we’re doing this summer is what we normally do every summer.”
He accused the unions of using fear to rally staff against nonexistent closures and mass layoffs.
“That’s never, ever been under discussion any type of ongoing closure. I just don’t understand where they would have gotten the hint of it and nobody else can either.“
Schonberg admitted that budget issues dictate what the hospital can do, but repeated his mantra that only the usual summer closures will occur.
“The only slowdowns we planned on are in the summer and that’s it. There certainly won’t be any in February and March or in the last quarter of the year and I’m not anticipating anything further outside of the summer.”
Schonberg said some employees who have used their vacation time up may be laid off for a few weeks in the summer while the slowdowns occur, but stressed they’ll be back on the floor immediately after.
“I guess technically there will be some folks who will be off work without pay ... for a few weeks, I know that, but that’s why we’ve encouraged folks to try and keep their holidays and use them over the summer period.”
Union executives Michael Hurley, left, and Peter Anis claim the Queensway Carleton Hospital's operating room closures will cause staff layoffs and longer wait times for patients. Monday, June 6, 2011. SCOTT TAYLOR/OTTAWA SUN
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