Funding gap forces job cuts at Huron Perth Public Health

A challenging budget shortfall has led to an organizational restructure that will see a 10 per cent reduction in staffing levels at Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH).

HPPH announced Wednesday morning that they must address a $1.5 million funding gap accumulated over five years. The provincial government's one per cent increase for public health units over the next three years, while welcome news, is not enough to cover the gap, HPPH said in a media release. 

There will be 13.5 positions removed from the HPPH organizational structure, a 10 per cent reduction in staffing.

Some of the "eliminations" will occur through retirement, others through layoffs and ending of temporary staff contracts.

Positions will be removed from several areas of the health unit, including management, HPPH said adding that changes will impact the programs and services HPPH will be able to provide to the community.

“We have had to make difficult decisions,” says Dr. Miriam Klassen, Medical Officer of Health for Huron and Perth. “We have spent the past year decreasing program expenses in a variety of ways; however most of our budget is for human resources. We had to make the difficult decision to remove positions from the organization.” 

Prior to the 2020 amalgamation of the Huron County Health Unit and Perth District Health Unit, both organizations received little to no budget increases while expenses continued to rise due to inflation, affecting wages and other operating costs, HPPH said. 

During the acute pandemic phase, one-time COVID-19 funding allowed HPPH to provide a comprehensive response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time some 75 – 78 per cent of HPPH staff were redeployed into COVID-19 response and some additional staff were hired. Increases to the base budget were limited, and did not keep up with rising expenses. 

With COVID-19 funding ended, HPPH said it must address the accumulated $1.5 million funding gap.

HPPH said it will rely on its newly released 2024-2027 Strategic Plan to help determine how best to deliver programs and services in the years ahead.

“Public health in Ontario is heading into a transitional time,” said Dr. Klassen. “Public health structure, funding and mandates are under review. We expect new Ontario Public Health Standards to be implemented in 2025, and a new funding approach to be implemented in 2026.”

StratfordToday has reached out to Huron Perth Public Health for additional comment.