More than 400 staff are losing their jobs at Cancer Care Ontario and other health organizations as Premier Doug Ford’s government moves to save $250 million a year by streamlining administrative functions under a new superagency called Ontario Health.

A total of 825 positions are being eliminated in the massive revamp of the province’s medical system but 409 are already vacant, leaving 416 pink slips to be issued to employees, the Ministry of Health said Wednesday.

The layoffs impact “administrative and back-office” workers at the agencies — including Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) — who are no longer needed as their duties are consolidated within Ontario Health, said Health Minister Christine Elliott in a statement.

“With each of these agencies having their own administrative and back-office supports, we are needlessly duplicating operations and spending money that we desperately need to pay for an enhance direct patient care,” Elliott added.

“None of the impacted positions provide direct patient care.”

Ford pledged several times during last spring’s election that a Conservative government would not axe any public servants, tweeting on May 27, 2018: “Under our government, not a single person will lose their job” from his @FordNation account.

But asked on Wednesday in Sudbury, Ford denied he was breaking a promise.

“Not at all, I said very clearly we’re getting rid of those LHINs … Every doctor and every nurse that I talked to said those LHINs are a disaster,” the premier told reporters at Lopes Ltd., a custom steel fabrication company.

“I’ll stick with my quote: no front-line person will lose a job. If we see layers and layers of managers making $200,000 or $300,000, well, they’re at risk because I want to put that money towards the front-line hard-working people.”

But the New Democrats warned it remains to be seen what the impact will be and an internal memo from the London-based South West Local Health Integration Network to staff suggests potential impacts on patient care remain top of mind.

“We recognize that regardless of where an employee sits in the organization, or what role they fill, ultimately it is all to support patient care,” chief executive Renato Discenza wrote in the two-page note to employees Wednesday.

“Programs were looked at to see if we could deliver differently or in a tapered fashion without directly impacting patient care,” his memo added.

“So while we talked about ‘administrative savings.’ we do appreciate our work is a continuum of activities that ultimately allows a patient to receive care. The implications of stopping or reducing any activity was (sic) explored. Decisions had to be properly assessed with a patient risk lens.”

Sources at the London and Niagara-area LHINs said staff first learned of the pending layoffs through media reports and were told full details may not be known until next week, with employees on vacation or on leave not being recalled to inform them they are losing their jobs.

This left workers frantically trying to download materials for their own resumes and portfolios, fearing they may be escorted off the property if given pink slips.

The layoffs prove Ford was misleading voters when he promised to cut government spending without axing public servants, said New Democrat MPP Marit Stiles (Davenport).

“He was making stuff up,” she told a news conference, raising the spectre of snags for Ontarians trying to navigate the health-care system as agencies like Cancer Care Ontario are folded into Ontario Health.

“I don’t buy for a second that these cuts won’t affect health care in this province and won’t affect patient care … we already know people are waiting for long-term care and home care,” Stiles added.

“Patients who are battling cancer we know cannot afford to have Cancer Care Ontario operations upended with firings. Those waiting for an organ donor match can’t afford for the Trillium Gift of Life Network’s work to grind to a halt.”

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The jobs being lost include staff in communications, planning, data analytics and financial services, Elliott said.

The local health networks saw their budgets slashed a total of $41 million by the government this year, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

“This is perhaps the biggest single job cut caused by the Ford government yet,” said Heather Duff, Ontario chair of the union representing health-care workers.

“Now there is serious concern on the front line that key positions, such as care co-ordinator positions that help patients and families directly access care, may be cut,” Duff added in a statement.

The South West LHIN also sent front-line employees a “script for use with clients/patients” to explain the job losses — including the line “if you have a concern about your health, let me know or talk to your other usual health care providers.”

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The other agencies impacted by the layoffs include eHealth Ontario, Health Quality Ontario, Health Shared Services Ontario, and the HealthForceOntario Marketing and Recruitment Agency. Along with 14 Local Health Integration Networks, they are being consolidated under the new Ontario Health superagency.

“We are eliminating duplicative administration, and redirecting those savings to direct patient care,” Elliott said, calling that “a far better use of health-care dollars” as Premier Doug Ford’s government works to eliminate the deficit within five years and make the health system more patient-friendly.

Elliott’s office said Cancer Care Ontario has already used $1.6 million in back-office savings to provide PET scan services, or positron emission tomography, in Sudbury with the overall savings from the reorganization enough to fund 700 hospital beds or 6,500 nursing home beds for one year.

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