Horwath concerned about hospital capacity in light of upcoming flu season

Ontario NDP Leader demands real plan from Wynne Liberals

With flu season about to start, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is questioning the readiness of Ontario’s already overcrowded hospitals to deal with a surge of patients.

“Winter is coming – and the flu season is coming with it. We know from medical experts that it may be a particularly bad year,” said Horwath. “People are already facing long waits and overcrowded conditions in Ontario’s hospitals, and its disappointing to us all that Wynne has failed to offer up a plan to even make a dent in the overcrowding crisis that she and her Liberal government have helped create.”

Ontario physician Dr. Sohail Gandhi gave Ontarians a view of the serious concerns doctors have about the approaching flu season.

“Physicians already know that due to the woeful mismanagement of the Ontario health-care system by Premier Kathleen Wynne and her hapless Health Minister Eric Hoskins, Ontario hospitals simply don't have the resources to cope with a surge of patients,” he wrote.

The Conservatives began the cuts in the health care system when they fired 6,000 nurses, closed 28 hospitals and cut over 7,000 hospital beds. Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals have made things worse with years of underfunding – including short-changing hospitals by $300 million in this year’s budget alone.

“Ontario families deserve so much better,” said Horwath. “They deserve to know that if they or their loved ones are struck by the flu this year – particularly children or seniors – that the ER can offer immediate help – not a long wait. A bed, not a gurney in a noisy, jam-packed hallway.”

Horwath has said that as a first step in undoing the damage done to Ontario’s hospitals, the NDP will ensure that hospitals are funded at minimum to the rate of inflation, population growth and to meet the unique needs of communities. She has also called for a moratorium on the layoffs of any more front-line staff.