London-area health unit cutting 17 jobs amid budget crunch

The Middlesex-London Health Unit is cutting about 17 management and front-line positions as part of a restructuring plan to deal with its multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, changes that will be noticed most in area elementary schools, London’s top doctor says.

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The health unit announced its restructuring plan Thursday. It will be doing away with about 17 full-time positions, including 13 public health nurse posts, two registered dieticians and one director.

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However, voluntary retirements, leaving already vacant positions unfilled and keeping staff working by transferring them to contract or temporary roles has reduced the number of layoffs to seven, the report to the health unit’s board of directors said.

The changes will be most noticeable in the health unit’s elementary school program and in its involvement in various community initiatives and task forces, medical officer of health Alex Summers said Thursday.

“We need to reduce programs and services. Where people who are living in Middlesex and London will see the most significant reduction is in our comprehensive school health nursing program. We will see a reduction of about half of the nurses we have dedicated to school health programming,” he said.

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The health unit is refocusing its efforts on secondary schools in the London region, and for initiatives at the school board level, but will continue with its dental screening and immunization programs in elementary schools, Summers said.

Public health officials are also making changes to staff involvement in various public health promotion initiatives in the community – such as task forces or local coalitions – as the health unit refocuses its efforts on core programs, Summers said.

“We’re not going to be able to be in all of those settings in the same way we used to,” he said. “The Middlesex-London Food Policy Council, as an example, is one where we are going to continue to try and be present, but there are other agencies where we just won’t be able to be present. We’ll articulate those over the coming months.”

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The changes, which are expected to save the health unit about $2.16 million, are triggering an overhaul to the health unit’s organizational structure effective Jan. 1.

“It’s a complete reimagining. Our organizational structure now looks different than it did previously. I think that will serve us well moving forward,” Summers said. “For the work that remains, we need to have the right people, in the right position, in the right number so we can follow through on that work.”

In addition to the layoffs, the health unit is also making several additions to its teams to support the new structure, including three associate managers and five program assistants.

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For months, the health unit has been candid about the budgetary pressures it faces, reporting an estimated budget shortfall of $2.6 million earlier this fall. Deliberations on the health unit’s next steps began in the summer, Summers said.

Among other costs, the health unit is facing inflationary pressure and negotiated salary increases totaling $698,900, the $1.05-million cost of integrating its COVID-19 response into its regular programming and the need to reduce its budget by another $550,000 to reach an “attainable level .”

Funding increases of one per cent from the provincial government and three per cent from the City of London and Middlesex County aren’t enough to stave off the restructuring this year.

The health unit is also expecting a budget shortfall in 2025, given the one per cent increase from the province that is expected.

“We do know that we’re getting one per cent from the province. We have notified the municipalities that we want that three per cent to continue on over the next couple of years as well,” health unit chief executive Emily Williams said Thursday.

“There are 3.5 temporary positions that we’ve contracted for in 2024 that we will take out in 2025 so that we don’t have to undertake this kind of disruption again.”

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