Despite increased funding from the province and municipalities (1% and 3% respectively), the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) is facing a significant budget shortfall of 2.6 to 2.8 million dollars in 2024. To balance the budget, the MLHU conducted a strategic review and prioritization of public health programs and services, which has resulted in organizational restructuring, reductions in programs and services, and layoffs of both staff and management positions.
“The budget pressures the MLHU is facing are considerable, and mean that we are no longer able to sustain our current or historic levels of service to the residents of London and Middlesex County,” says Dr. Alex Summers, Medical Officer of Health at the Middlesex-London Health Unit. “These have been hard decisions to make, but despite these challenges, the Health Unit is committed to providing excellent and critical public health services to our community, now and in the years ahead.”
Several program areas were identified for disinvestment, including significant reductions in comprehensive school health nursing, and capacity to support local municipalities in healthy public policy development. Certain program areas received additional investments to strengthen the agency’s capacity to meet provincial and community expectations. These included vaccine preventable diseases, infectious disease control, and the provision of health expertise to specific health sector partners.
As a result of the restructuring, MLHU’s workforce is losing 13 full-time equivalent (FTE) registered nursing positions, two FTE registered dietitians, and one and a half FTE health promoter positions. MLHU’s leadership is also decreasing by one director and three managers. To ensure newly formed and exisiting teams have the right skill mix to deliver prioritized interventions, some roles have been added, including three FTE health promotion specialists, five FTE program assistants, and three associate managers. The new structure will be effective January 1, 2024.
Several strategies were taken to minimize the people-level impacts of the restructuring, including Voluntary Retirement Incentives, reducing already vacant positions, and extending employment by transferring staff to contract/temporary roles. This will result in less than seven total lay offs of front-line staff at the beginning of January.
“Health Unit leadership acknowledges that this is a very difficult situation and we are grateful to our staff and leaders for their grace and professionalism throughout this challenging time. MLHU is working with union partners to support staff as we transition into new team structures starting in the new year,” says Emily Williams, Chief Executive Officer at the Middlesex-London Health Unit. “The new structure will be evaluated throughout 2024 to ensure that the allocated resources are appropriate given the priorities of the Health Unit.”
The mission of the MLHU remains to protect and promote the health of our community.
Media Contact:
Morgan Lobzun, Communications Coordinator, Middlesex-London Health Unit,
519-617-0571
Spokespeople:
Dr. Alex Summers, Medical Officer of Health, Middlesex-London Health Unit
Emily Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Middlesex-London Health Unit