By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
In an attempt to bring down its deficit, the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is eliminating 49 staff positions.
At a March 31 media conference, hospital officials announced a six-month restructuring plan that includes the reduction of staffing “float pools.”
But no layoffs are expected, as administration plans to achieve the cuts by not filling vacancies and through attrition.
In speaking to reporters, CKHA president and CEO Adam Topp said it’s expected that through “natural turnover” – around six per cent a year – all 49 jobs will be “absorbed” without anyone leaving the organization.
He admitted the change is worrisome for staff.
“We’re going through the collective agreement so there’s a process that we follow,” Topp explained when asked how the cuts will be addressed. Various departments will be affected.
“I think with this type of news it’s stressful for staff,” Topp said. “We’ve made sure there’s an employee assistance program in place on site for the staff that are affected. People were anticipating some of these changes but having said that, it’s still very difficult for people to work through especially as people don’t know how exactly it’s going to affect them.”
According to Topp, the current size of the hospital’s float pools was set during pandemic at a time when staff vacancies hovered around 15 per cent as the CKHA managed COVID-related sick time.
Post-pandemic, that vacancy number has been shaved to less than two per cent.
As it stands, 19 of the 49 jobs affected are presently vacant. There are 25 additional vacancies within the CKHA that will support a redeployment process which could include reassignment, transfer, voluntary departure and potential layoffs.
A total of 32 full-time and 17 part-time roles are involved, covering a range of jobs from nurses to support staff who step up to take shifts when someone is absent.
Overall, 27 float pool positions will be cut, with the rest coming from other areas such as surgery and dialysis.
Similar to other Ontario hospitals, CKHA is facing financial and operational pressures resulting from rising costs, an aging population, increasingly complex care and aging infrastructure. Problems with the hospital’s boilers are a case in point, Topp said, with CKHA having to rent two boilers to handle the issue until a permanent solution is found.
The latest round of staff cuts follow on the heels of staff reductions made last November, when eight leadership jobs were eliminated.
“We are working very diligently to balance our budget,” Topp explained, noting other projects are in the works to reduce the deficit. “We certainly don’t know what our future funding picture looks like either, so I won’t say that this is the end, but I will say this is a major part of our multi-year plan to address our deficit.”
CKHA is expected to save $3.5 million annually through the float pool staffing cuts, Topp said, beginning in the 2026-27 fiscal year. The hospital’s budgeted deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year, which just ended, is $4.8 million.
The budgeted deficit the board approved for the next fiscal year for 2026-27 is $4.2 million.
How much government funding CKHA will get from Ontario Health is still up in the air, Topp said.
