More than a dozen nursing jobs at The Ottawa Hospital will be cut after six short-term rehabilitation beds were eliminated last week, says the Ontario Nurses Association.

Unionized therapists and therapy assistants will also see six of their jobs impacted by the closure of the rehab beds.

After the six short-term rehab beds are closed, only 22 will remain for patients who need post-surgical therapy.

Still, more cuts may be on the way, said Allison Neill, Acting Vice-President of Communications and Outreach at the hospital.

“There are other changes coming,” she said. “The challenge with us with the budget is always to keep the care aspect. It should really be about the patient getting the right care in the right place.”

Neill said The Ottawa Hospital is not the place people usually go to get the kind of care provided by the beds, adding that the cost cutting would help to ease a $23 million gap to balance the hospital’s $1.03 billion budget.