March 30th, 2017

Wynne government can immediately help Londoners facing mental health crisis: NDP

For the third time in two weeks, MPP Peggy Sattler demanded the Wynne government to stop blocking a project to help Londoners facing a mental health crisis, and use a measure under its authority that would help patients immediately.

“On Monday the minister said he is continuing to look at the project. I'm sorry, but that's not good enough. The Wynne government has been dragging its feet on this project for almost two years,” Sattler said.

“What my community wants to know is not whether, but when, will this project go ahead?”

Sattler has been urging Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberal government to sign off on an innovative project to address London's ongoing mental health crisis, which would allow ambulances to take non-acute mental health patients directly to the crisis centre rather than the hospital’s constantly overcrowded emergency room. 

“People in London cannot wait any longer. The mental health patients who are lined up on hallway stretchers need action from the Wynne government, not more excuses. This project alone will not solve the crisis, but it will help and it is desperately needed,” Sattler said.

“The minister of health is using the Ambulance Act as an excuse for inaction, when it actually has nothing to do with the proposed project.  I have another suggestion for the minister. Will he use his ministerial authority to immediately recognize London’s crisis centre as a designated health facility under Regulation 552 of the Health Insurance Act so that the ambulance transfer of patients can be funded?”