The full effects of the health care cuts announced by the Liberal government last month are slowly taking shape.

The regional health board in Laval announced Monday $12-million worth of cuts at the Cite de la Sante Hospital.

It's a response to $220 million in cuts requested by the province, under the condition that patient services would not be affected.

Under the plan, Quebec’s 18 regional health boards will be eliminated and hospitals and other institutions will lose their administrative boards. In all, 1,300 managers were supposed to lose their jobs.

Workers say such cuts will definitely be felt by patients.

At least 84 nursing and technical staffers at the hospital have received layoff notices, and they’re fighting back.

Pierre Coulombe, a nurse, was told his services at the hospital's long-term care unit were no longer needed.

“They cut my position because they didn’t need a nurse because of the clientele that we have,” he said.

The hospital insists that it will simply move staff from departments where there are too many workers, to places where there's a shortage.

The union says that plan doesn’t add up.

For example, several nurses were cut at the neo-natal care unit, despite the fact staffers are routinely called to do overtime.

Last week for example, the hospital abolished eight orderly jobs in the emergency department. In order to do more with less, the remaining staff was told to cut down on the number of times patients would be washed.

“We're asked to wash them on even days, and we still don’t have time for all the patients,” said Marjolaine Aube, CSN union representative

It's a claim the hospital doesn't fully dispute.

“Patients are being washed according to their needs,” says Philippe Benoit in the hospital’s human resources department

The hospital argues that the need for patient care has evolved – there are fewer long-term patients and more people receiving home care.

Finally, it says just about everyone laid-off will be re-assigned new jobs within Laval’s regional health board, according to seniority.

“We'll have to use our resources as carefully as possible if we want to maintain our services,” Benoit said.

But the union maintains patients are currently the ones who will suffer the most as a result of these cuts.