A 24-bed mental health ward at London's St. Joseph's Regional Health Care will be closed at the end of the week, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union has learned.
Staff at the former London Psychiatric Hospital were told yesterday (Dec. 7). As many as 25 hospital workers could lose their jobs as a result of the closure.
St. Joseph's is taking more than $20 million from London mental health services in order to balance its books this year, said OPSEU President Leah Casselman.
"The hospital has no mandate to close down these beds before services are put in place in the community," she said. The number of mental health referrals has dramatically dropped in London, leading to speculation that St. Joseph's is deliberately raising the bar for treatment in order to save money.
"If you want to take a look at where these mental health services have gone, take a walk downtown London," Casselman said. "Mental health patients don't belong on the street or in our jails."
As a result of deinstitutionalization, London police conducted a 2002 study revealing that it costs the force as much as $4 million annually to deal with mentally ill people.
And an Ontario Superior Court ruled last month that the constitutional rights of two mentally ill men were violated when they were detained at the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Detention Centre. The men were waiting for hospital space for psychiatric assessments.
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For more information:
Dave Erskine, OPSEU Local 152 President: 519-765-8660
