(May 6, 2016)<\/p>\n
Author: Briana Carnegie, BlackburnNews.com<\/p>\n
Sarnia\u2019s healthcare representatives spoke out against Liberal healthcare cuts during a meeting with Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath Friday.<\/p>\n
Horwath says hospital funding should be stable, predictable, and at minimum, keep pace with inflation and population growth.<\/p>\n
She says concerns raised during the Sarnia meeting are being echoed elsewhere across the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly in southwestern Ontario there\u2019s a significant problem and people are extremely upset with the Liberal government in terms of the way they\u2019ve handled healthcare here,\u201d says Horwath.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s the same across Ontario or similar across Ontario, but the southwest has been hit hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarnia-Lambton Health Coalition Chair Shirley Roebuck felt it was a productive meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that we\u2019ve certainly had more than our share of problems,\u201d says Roebuck. \u201cAll of this, of course, starts\u00a0at the provincial government level. Hospitals are not funded properly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horwath says more than 1,200 nursing positions have been cut since the start of 2015 as provincial hospitals battle base funding freezes.<\/p>\n
She says nearly 80 net positions have been lost at Bluewater Health in Sarnia and Petrolia over the last four years.<\/p>\n
The 2016 provincial budget contains a\u00a01%\u00a0increase in funding.<\/p>\n