Niagara Health responds to union rally, clarifies emergency care and job impacts

Niagara Health is aware of Thursday's SEIU-led rally and respects the union’s passionate advocacy on behalf of its members. We also believe it’s important for Niagarans to have an accurate understanding of the facts and understand the true nature of these changes.

First and foremost, we don’t want people in Niagara to think emergency departments aren’t available to care for them in a time of serious need. The suggestion by the SEIU that the average wait time at the Welland Emergency Department is 45 hours is simply not true. We don’t want anyone in Niagara to think it’s a bad choice to go to an emergency department if they need care. Everyone should appreciate that emergency departments triage patients based on medical need, and people with urgent or life-threatening conditions are seen first. Please know the three Emergency Departments in Niagara are always available if you or a loved one requires urgent care.

As for the recent changes, it’s important to appreciate that Niagara Health is working to minimize the impact on front-line SEIU and other union members and ensuring we are prioritizing patient care in every decision. Let us correct some misinformation:

·         No unionized workers have been laid off before the holidays. We will be working with our union partners over the coming months to redeploy those affected by the changes.

·         At this time, nine people would be facing layoff if we were unable to redeploy them.

·         Not one emergency department role is affected.

·         Over 60 per cent of the 98 roles impacted are administrative (communications, IT and facilities) and clinical support.

Rest assured, we are actively working with our union partners to support staff and minimize impacts as we work through these changes. In reality, the maximum number of unionized staff who could lose their jobs is nine, and with the union’s help, we are working to reduce that number to zero.

These changes are the result of difficult decisions that most Ontario hospitals are making as we work towards reducing our deficits. Before reducing roles, Niagara Health took multiple steps to control costs, including reducing sick time and overtime, reviewing contracts, cutting discretionary spending, improving emergency and inpatient performance, and standardizing models of care and staffing.