News

FEDELI OUTRAGED OVER HOSPITAL CUTS

QUEEN’S PARK – Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli took the Wynne Liberal government to task
in the Ontario Legislature this afternoon over the latest round of job cuts announced at
North Bay Regional Health Centre.

Fedeli blasted the government in a Members’ Statement for putting the health care of
Nipissing residents at even greater risk. The text of Fedeli’s statement is as follows:

Thank you, Speaker. Today is an incredibly distressing day in my riding, especially
for those people who rely on health services provided at the North Bay Regional
Health Centre.

Today, a further 158 full-time staff at our hospital learned that their jobs are being
cut by this government and more than half of those employees were nurses. This is
in addition to the 197 front line health care workers already cut at this hospital –
again the majority of them were nurses. Speaker, that’s 350 front-line health care
workers that are gone.

The Liberal government is also closing 30 beds in North Bay, in addition to the 30
beds they already closed at this five-year old hospital. This is not only devastating
to the front-line health care workers, but more so for their patients, who are now
rightfully concerned about access to the quality health care they need and deserve,
Speaker.

Just this week, we heard that hospital cuts in Ottawa have led to rising readmission
rates, negating any supposed savings and negatively impacting access to quality
care.

The Liberal government has clearly put self-interest ahead of the health care of
Northerners. This much I want to make clear, Speaker – we, the people of
Nipissing, will NOT stand for this! We`re fed up with the scandals that leave us to
pay the price.

Video of Fedeli’s statement can be found online here:

For more information, or to arrange an interview, contact:
Clint Thomas
Executive Assistant
(416) 325-3434 or (416) 710-1752