SEATTLE — Several major hospital systems across the Puget Sound region are cutting hundreds of jobs, a wave of reductions that experts warn could soon lead to longer waits, fewer available services, and growing pressure on families seeking medical care.

Providence Swedish is the latest to announce significant staffing reductions, confirming 296 job cuts as hospitals brace for what leaders describe as mounting financial strain.

Doctors, nurses, and allied health workers— who spend years training for hospital roles— are now facing widespread uncertainty, according to Cassie Sauer, CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association.

“Wages are good and the benefits are good,” Sauer noted, adding, “and for people to lose those jobs is a big deal.”

The layoffs stretch across the region’s best

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