Vitalite Health Network cuts jobs at Edmundston hospital

The Vitalite Health Network has announced job cuts at the Edmundston Regional Hospital, but officials say the changes are part of a reorganization that will lead to better patient care.

Vitalite says it's eliminating the equivalent of more than seven full-time positions, many of them orderlies.

Spokesperson Jean-Rene Noel says it's part of a three year reorganization that will see six new positions created.

That will include a clinic for new mothers and their babies in the obstetrics unit. In the ICU an orderly position was converted into a licensed practical nurse.

Noel says the new LPN position with broaden the scope of practice and provide more direct patient care. Affected employees will have the option to apply for the new positions.

The reorganization is part of the spending restraint imposed on the two provincial health authorities by the previous Progressive Conservative government. It’s a process new Liberal Premier Brian Gallant criticized during the recent election campaign.

"A Liberal government will focus on job creation rather than focusing on cuts to our social programs,” he said during the campaign.

The Department of Health says despite the change in government, the two health authorities will continue to operate with the funding it received in this year's PC budget, according to spokesperson Sarah Bustard.

“The Department of Health is using the budget that was approved in the Legislature during main estimates,” she said.

The department says there are no plans to change that and provide more money midway through the fiscal year.