Ford's mismanagement leaves patients in pain

TORONTO - In response to a report from Ontario’s Patient Ombudsman on medical supply shortages through the Ontario Health atHome program last fall, in which insufficient planning and oversight by the Ford government were highlighted as contributing factors, Ontario NDP Shadow Minister for Health France Gélinas, Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Addictions with responsibility for Primary Care Robin Lennox, and Shadow Minister for Long-Term Care Wayne Gates have issued the following statement:

“The Ford government’s inattention to the matter of ensuring adequate medical supply volume is unconscionable,” said Gélinas. “It is outrageous that stories like a Stage 4 cancer patient dying choking and in pain needlessly have emerged from this report.

“Ontarians seeking palliative care should be afforded the basic humanity of receiving adequate pain control medication and supplies, allowing them to remain in the comfort of their home rather than a hospital bed. People are dying in pain under Doug Ford’s watch.”

“Stories of patients suffering such as those outlined in the ombudsman’s report are horrifying to read, and completely unacceptable,” said Lennox. “This staggering lack of oversight from the Conservatives has caused irreparable and unnecessary harm to patients and their families. Home care nurses were put in the impossible position of trying to provide essential care without the tools they needed to keep their patients safe.

“It is long past time for the Ford government to give our health care system the funding and oversight that it deserves to ensure patient care doesn’t fall through the cracks.”

“Stage 4 cancer patients were left waiting weeks for supplies,” said Gates. “Caregivers were left to fend for themselves when they received incorrect supplies. Patients were forced to go to the hospital due to missed deliveries. Families were forced to watch loved ones dying in pain because they could not access adequate supplies.

“Ontarians, in particular seniors and caregivers, were left struggling by a broken home care supply system. What happened here under Doug Ford’s watch is unacceptable. We need real accountability, and a meaningful, structural fix to this broken home care system.”