April 24th, 2017

NDP Leader: Brampton deserves better than ‘hallway medicine’

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says cuts to hospital funding by the Wynne Liberals have left Brampton-area hospitals in crisis, and patients needing urgent care are paying the price.

“Jamie-Lee Ball is a young woman who found herself in excruciating pain. She was suffering from internal bleeding and complications from surgery, so she went to the emergency room at Brampton Civic Hospital to get some help,” said Horwath during question period this morning. “But instead of getting a hospital bed, Jamie-Lee was put on a stretcher in a hallway. She was labelled ‘Hallway patient number 1’ and she spent five long days and nights waiting for a real hospital bed.”

Horwath says years of reckless cuts have pushed Ontario’s hospitals past the breaking point, causing overcrowding and procedure cancellations. Patients are bearing the “complete indignity” of being left on stretchers in hallways for days at a time.

“According to officials at Brampton Civic, the new Peel Memorial actually reduced patient volume for about 10 days—10 days. But now, the civic hospital is back to severe overcrowding that’s putting patients in Brampton into hallway medicine when they deserve so much better,” said Horwath.

“Why does this Liberal government think that hallway medicine is good enough for Jamie-Lee and other patients in Brampton?” she asked. “When will this Liberal government stop the cuts to hospitals, admit that they’ve created a gridlock crisis and do something about it?”