MEDIA ADVISORY: St. Joe's staff out hospital's "penny wise, pound foolish" spending on taxi service

HAMILTON, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 14, 2015) - In an effort to out St. Joseph's "penny wise, pound foolish" approach to service cuts and budgeting, front line hospital staff at the hospital are holding a media conference Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 10:30 a.m.

Dominic DiPasquale, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 786 says that despite the recent public and media scrutiny on hospital executives "perks" and expenses, the administration hasn't "gotten the memo about what people in Hamilton think is fair."

For instance says DiPasquale, the hospital spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on taxi fares yearly, but plans to cut its cost-effective, in-house patient driver and dispatch service.

"In addition to killing home-town jobs, the safety of forensic patients and the public is being put at risk because the hospital intends to contract out patient shuttle transfers to an out-of-town outfit," says DiPasquale.

Thursday's media conference will provide additional information about the money spent on cabs and a comparison of costings between the in-house patient shuttle and outsourcing the service. It will be held at the corner of Fennell and West Fifth Street, across from the new hospital campus.