Workers protest job cuts at The Royal’s long-term care facility

Workers at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre held a demonstration outside the Carling Avenue complex on Monday to protest planned layoffs at its long-term care facility — cuts the workers and their union warn will impact care for patients with schizophrenia and other serious mental health issues.

CUPE 942, which represents full- and part-time employees at The Royal, said the centre plans to eliminate 15 jobs at its long-term care facility, Royal Ottawa Place, including nurses and personal support workers.

The union says The Royal is planning to cut an additional five jobs elsewhere.

Royal Ottawa Place has 64 beds on three floors, and provides care and treatment for adults living with mental illness, physical limitations and other needs.

CUPE 942 president Amir Sigarchi called the jobs that are being eliminated “essential” and said the cuts will have an impact on the level of care patients receive.

“Cutting those positions is going to lead to chaos,” he said. “The members and the workers are going to get burned out, there’s going to be the increase in violence … not to mention that the level of care for patients is going to go down.”

Maria Boguslavsky, a registered practical nurse who works at both facilities, said adequate staffing is already an issue.

“These residents are long-term care residents. They’re very sick, they’re not stable,” she said. “They need more help than a hospital patient. But unfortunately, the long-term care home actually have less staff.”

Meredith Tomas, a registered nurse and bargaining unit president with CUPE, said staff were notified of the cuts prior to Christmas, and others will be notified this month.

Sigarchi claimed the centre has already closed 12 beds, but Alyssa Nader, a spokesperson for The Royal, said it’s not cutting any beds.

Nader said the staffing changes the union is protesting “reflect regular business operations within long-term care.”

“Staffing levels are continuously monitored and adjusted to ensure safe, high-quality care. At no time do we operate below safe or appropriate staffing levels,” Nader said.

Sigarchi said that response “doesn’t add up.”

“I can’t put it together how it’s possible that 15 jobs could be cut and the level of service stays the same,” he said.

The union blamed the cuts on the provincial government, saying it had provided insufficient funding for long-term care.

However, a spokesperson for the ministry pointed to a multi-year funding commitment it made for $4.9 billion to strengthen staffing levels of nurses and personal support workers at long-term care homes.