CAMBRIDGE — There’s no shortage of volunteers to help Cambridge Memorial Hospital chop $11 million from its budget.

As of Feb. 15, 26 people applied for up to four vacant positions on the board at a hospital that’s under provincial supervision because it couldn’t balance its budget over the last two years.

That’s been whittled to a short list of 14 to be interviewed over the next month, said Angelo Loberto, a board member overseeing the recruitment process.

The goal is to pick four to six good candidates. Three or four would sit around the boardroom table now, while the rest would sit on hospital committees, grooming them for future board positions.

Board chair John Bell and vice-chair Dennis Watson resigned last September, when supervisor Murray Martin was sent in by the Health Minister. There are also several board members whose terms are ending over the next two years.

The board today has no powers, as Martin is in full control of operations at the Coronation Boulevard hospital. He expects to turn control back to the board by summer.

By the end of March 31, 2011, the hospital must cut $11 million to create a balanced budget. That includes eliminating 85 jobs and eliminating 35 beds, with most patients transferred to long-term care facilities across Waterloo-Wellington.

The hospital is well on its way to meeting the cost-cutting target of $5.6 million by the March 31, 2010, said Bob Blowes, of the finance committee.

At the end of January, the budget shortfall was running $1.8 million. That’s $97,000 better than expected, despite five per cent more patients than forecast and outbreaks of stomach virus in a two of wards that created extra staffing expenses.

The hospital cost-cutting plan approved last fall took aim at trimming costs for supplies and expenses. That’s where savings are growing despite more patients coming through the door, said finance committee chair Bob Blowes.

Half of the 70 cost-cutting recommendations have gone into action. Of the 35, only five aren’t showing much progress so far.

“Some will not produce the results we had hoped. The estimates were optimistic,” Blowes said.

“At this point the positives are greater than the negative … there are some very big steps to happen.”

There’s staff turmoil as departments are restructured and workers laid off, the board heard. Sick time is climbing in recent months, at the same as overtime hours are declining.

“We must be careful the fact is we are asking at lot of people to do more with a lot less,” said board member Bob Cunningham.

“That promotes burnout. That’s dangerous.”

Hospital managers say there are too many factors at play to pick one cause for the growing number of sick days. Winter is a usual time more people normally become ill. And when a staff member is ill, “best practices” say they must be symptom free for 72 hours before returning to work.

The hospital is offering career and financial advice, along with offering personal counselling to all staff who ask, the board was told. There’s also ongoing effort to keep staff informed of changes and invite their cost-cutting ideas.

The goal is to ensure anyone who wants to keep working will have a job at the end of the process, said acting president Patrick Gaskin. Hopefully all reductions will be made through natural attrition and early retirements, he said.

kswayze@cambridgereporter.com