(April 1, 2026) By: Reta Ismail, CTV News<\/p>\n
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) says it plans to cut nearly 290 registered nursing positions across several units – a move the Ontario Nurses\u2019 Association warns will strain an already pressured hospital system and harm patient care.<\/p>\n
The hospital announced the reductions this week, saying they are part of a benchmarking exercise aimed at aligning staffing levels with similarly sized academic hospitals.<\/p>\n
Erin Ariss, provincial president of the nurses\u2019 association, says frontline nurses have long raised concerns about working conditions at the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cNurses that work at London Health Science Center have already raised the alarm about the conditions of work there. They filed hundreds of patient safety and workload complaints. There\u2019s health and safety issues in that building that would, quite frankly, make your skin crawl,\u201d Ariss said.<\/p>\n
The hospital is currently overseen by a provincial supervisor, David Musyj, who says the reductions will occur gradually through attrition.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is going to be walked out of the organization. So, this is going to take time. And if you look at it in the grand scope of LHSC over the three years, this is less than a two per cent reduction in the number of FTE at LHSC over three years,\u201d Musyj said.<\/p>\n
He adds the planned reductions follow a decade in which the hospital hired beyond long-term demand.<\/p>\n
Still, health care advocates say the changes come at a time when hospitals are already struggling with staffing shortages.<\/p>\n
Peter Bermanis of the Ontario Health Coalition says cutting registered nurse positions will further strain patient care.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t change the fact that there\u2019s still going to be a shortage of enough skilled staff to provide adequate care. And in London, we have a growing city, we have a massive hospital complex that doesn\u2019t need less staff, it needs more staff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hospital officials say they plan to hire 108 registered practical nurses over the same period. Ariss criticized the move, saying it risks shifting responsibilities to workers with different training.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re expecting registered practical nurses to do the job of a registered nurse without the additional education and the additional pay that comes with that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The reductions are expected to affect several areas, including adult ambulatory and inpatient care, as well as pediatric services.<\/p>\n
Doris Grinspun, CEO of the Registered Nurses\u2019 Association of Ontario, says the decision could ultimately affect patient care.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a supervisor for a reason, but it\u2019s not because of nurses, it\u2019s because of the problems they had with other financial practices. So, the reality is that at the end of the day, it\u2019s patients that will pay for the ill-conceived decision of London Health Science Center,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The nurses\u2019 association says it will continue to push the Ontario government to implement mandatory safe staffing ratios in hospitals.<\/p>\n
Click here for the original article<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (April 1, 2026) By: Reta Ismail, CTV News London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) says it plans to cut nearly 290 registered nursing positions across several units – a move the Ontario Nurses\u2019 Association warns will strain an already pressured hospital system and harm patient care. The hospital announced the reductions this week, saying they are […]<\/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-31349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\n