OPSEU has won a battle against a controversial decision to contract out in-patient physiotherapy at the Kincardine hospital,  The contract between the hospital and a private numbered company  has been dissolved. In-patient physiotherapy will be delivered directly by the hospital – patients requiring outpatient physiotherapy will continue to be forced to seek it elsewhere.

OPSEU was scheduled to attend a hearing  Jan. 9  to determine whether it retained  successor  bargaining rights for the workers at the newly - contracted out facility.   Instead the company gave notice that it wouldn’t be completing its move into the hospital.

“This is half a victory,” says  OPSEU President  Warren (Smokey) Thomas. “It returns in - patient services to the public sector, but it still leaves outpatients who cannot pay with a 70 km trip to the nearest OHIP accredited facility. The fight is not over.”

Across the province ,  cash-strapped hospitals are either abandoning or charging for outpatient physiotherapy. OPSEU obtained a legal opinion last fall calling such changes a violation of the Canada Health Act.