Dear Colleagues
We are in the final month of the 2009/10 budget year and, with everyone's support, UHN will finish the year in a balanced position. It hasn't been easy, but with all of your help, we continue to be in the position where we haven't had to have layoffs and we have maintained our promise to see the patients that we committed that we would see in 2009/10.
In reading the speech from the throne, I see that the provincial government is looking to the future and contemplating changes that will be necessary so that Ontario can continue to provide excellent healthcare– this year and in the years to come. It will come as no surprise to you that your leadership team is already deeply involved in working to maintain a balanced budget in the next budget year and that, once again we will rely on everyone's support to achieve this goal.
As an organization we will continue to make the commitment that we will do everything we possibly can to avoid layoffs, which means that careful restriction of hiring will continue, and that when roles are eliminated we will work to place individuals elsewhere at UHN.There is nothing more valuable to this organization than the people who work here and in committing to a no-layoff policy, I know that we are sending a clear signal to everyone that we value our staff.
As always, we will look for efficiencies in 2010/11 and change the way we work when it makes sense to do so. This is in line with the expectation of the government as stated in the speech from the throne.We will look to maintain our volumes of in-patient care and especially volume funded in-patient care.We will be carefully examining our ambulatory services to determine whether we are the best and most efficient provider of care that can be provided in the community.
We will continue to work with the Toronto Central LHIN and the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care in trying to attract new funds to programs where we are a sole provider or a regional resource but money is very tight and governments cannot give what they do not have. I expect that we will be very careful in monitoring our budgets in 2010/11 and in year budget and activity corrections may be necessary. However I do expect that we will maintain our no lay-off commitment to our staff.
Best wishes,
Bob
