A grave warning about health care from the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions comes as a new report is released Thursday.
It outlines a grim future for Ontario's health care system in response to the changes made in the Ford government's spring budget.
Peter Bergmanis of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) says, "For London this would mean an absolute cut of 68 beds, and 540 staff over five years."
The report, "Protecting What Matters Most," shows a growing shortfall over the course of the next five years based on the funding numbers released in the Ontario budget.
According to OCHU President Michael Hurley there will be no way to avoid job losses regardless of promises made by Premier Doug Ford during the election.
"The only way to deal with protecting front-line services and with pushing back the crisis with hallway medicine is to fund hospitals at more than their current operating cost so they can increase capacity to meet the demands of the aging and growing population. Without that, they just fall further and further behind"
The OCHU says the situation only gets worse over time, with health cuts accounting for $5.2 billion of $8 billion in total cuts in the fiscal plan by 2023-24.
