SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco health services are facing steep cuts Tuesday in an effort to trim down the city's $233 million budget deficit.

The San Francisco Health Commission convenes this afternoon to take public comment and vote on more than $1.2 million in proposed reductions this year, affecting services at San Francisco General Hospital, home nursing and mental health clinics.

Nurses represented by Service Employees International Union local 1021, along with some Health Department staff members, plan to rally outside the Grove Street hearing at 3 p.m. in protest of the proposed cuts, according to an SEIU spokesman.

Even if the commission approves the reductions today, "We still haven't hit our target of what the mayor has asked us to cut," Health Department spokeswoman Eileen Shields said.

According to Shields, Mayor Gavin Newsom has asked for a total of $28 million in cuts to the health department's budgets for the remaining fiscal year and the next fiscal year.

More cuts will likely be considered in the coming months, she said.

To reduce its budget for this fiscal year, the commission is considering reducing operating room hours for elective surgeries at San Francisco General Hospital, which is expected to increase wait times for the procedures, while prioritizing surgeries for trauma, emergencies, cancer, children and in-house patients, according to the Health Department.

Also proposed are: a reduction in the operating hours of the hospital's outpatient oral surgery clinic from five days per week to three days; the elimination of the city's Chronic Care Public Health Nursing Program; and management restructuring at the city's mental health clinics, which is not expected to impact service to clients, according to the Health Department.

A final proposed cut is the closure of Buster's Place, a Mission District center providing drop-in services, counseling and referrals for homeless residents.

The health department, with a yearly budget of $1.2 billion, has the largest general fund budget of any city agency, according to Shields.