\u201cIt seems to be state secrets trying to get out of either the Ford government or even hospitals what is happening,\u201d said NDP MPP Sandy Shaw, slamming the lack of transparency on hospital cuts.<\/em><\/p>\nNurses had already been hired and trained for a long-awaited expansion of the special care nursery at St. Joseph\u2019s Healthcare when, the union says, the four planned beds were abruptly scrapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reaction is obviously outrage,\u201d Grace Pierias of the Ontario Nurses\u2019 Association (ONA) said. \u201cWe\u2019re super disappointed, very upset, it\u2019s emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision was made by St. Joseph\u2019s according to a statement by Brooke Cowell, executive vice-president of clinical services and chief nursing executive.<\/p>\n
Cowell was not made available for an interview and the only reason provided for the lost beds was that the hospital network decided to \u201cpostpone\u201d after \u201cevaluating our capacity.\u201d No numbers were provided to back up this explanation.<\/p>\n
It has left more questions than answers about why St. Joseph\u2019s would indefinitely postpone the expansion after provincial funding for the beds was announced in November 2024 with much fanfare as part of a wider renovation to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Charlton Campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public needs some clear answers here as to what\u2019s happened,\u201d said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, which advocates to protect and improve the health-care system. \u201cThat\u2019s quite a significant expansion of capacity that is now not happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upping the number of beds to 21 from 17 would have been a nearly 25 per increase to the capacity of the NICU, which cares for more than 600 newborns a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat should be our highest priority, looking after our newborns and our sick babies,\u201d said the NDP\u2019s Sandy Shaw, MPP for Hamilton West\u2014Ancaster\u2014Dundas. \u201cIt should be the last thing that gets scrapped in the province of Ontario.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health Minister Sylvia Jones attended the event to announce the NICU renovation more than one year ago, but neither her office nor the ministry has responded to repeated requests for an explanation from The Spectator.<\/p>\n
Losing the NICU beds comes at the same time St. Joseph\u2019s has a deficit of $25 million on its roughly $800-million budget for the fiscal year that ends on March 31. The hospital network is currently implementing a plan to cut $9.1 million, including eliminating 38 jobs and 24 vacant positions at the Charlton, West Fifth and King campuses.<\/p>\n
The 62 lost jobs don\u2019t count the cuts taking place in the NICU \u2014 neither St. Joseph\u2019s nor the union could put a number on how many nursing jobs will be lost along with the beds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are scrapping whatever programs they can,\u201d said Pierias, the ONA\u2019s region 4 vice-president representing St. Joseph\u2019s. \u201cWe\u2019re just seeing cuts like I\u2019ve never seen honestly. It\u2019s alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw said hospitals and Premier Doug Ford\u2019s Progressive Conservative government need to be more transparent and forthcoming about what is being cut and why as the majority of hospitals in Ontario are forecasting a deficit for the current fiscal year, including $152 million at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), which has a budget of roughly $1.6 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems to be state secrets trying to get out of either the Ford government or even hospitals what is happening,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cThe answer generally is that there\u2019s no changes that will impact patient care or access to services at any hospital in Ontario. Well, we know that\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cowell says St. Joseph\u2019s will go ahead with the rest of the NICU renovation, including more private rooms, a modern design and enhanced infection prevention measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile this was a very difficult decision about our future capacity, there will be no reduction in current care or service,\u201d Cowell said. \u201cWe hope to offer any affected individuals roles in other vacant positions and we will be supporting staff throughout this process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ONA questioned what other roles the hospital could offer specialized NICU nurses.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmployers love to say, \u2018We\u2019ll find other work for these nurses we\u2019ve hired for NICU,\u2019\u201d Pierias said. \u201cThese nurses are highly trained and highly specific practitioners \u2026 That is yet another insult to our profession.\u201d<\/p>\n
Click here for the original article<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(January 16, 2026) By: Joanna Frketich, The Hamilton Spectator \u201cIt seems to be state secrets trying to get out of either the Ford government or even hospitals what is happening,\u201d said NDP MPP Sandy Shaw, slamming the lack of transparency on hospital cuts. Nurses had already been hired and trained for a long-awaited expansion of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
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