Horwath: Hamilton hospitals need help

Ontario NDP Leader and MPP for Hamilton Centre Andrea Horwath issued the following statement in response to media reports on the worsening overcrowding crisis in Hamilton hospitals:

“Too often in Ontario, hallway medicine is leaving people in pain and distress on a stretcher in the hallway, waiting without the comfort they deserve and quick care they need. The difficulty families go through in our hospitals, sometimes facing one of the worst days of their lives, is becoming all too common. This morning we learned that Hamilton Health Sciences struggled through an occupancy rate of 114 per cent yesterday – and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton was 28 beds over capacity.

Hospital overcrowding in my hometown has meant that ambulances wait, too, unable to unload patients at the crowded emergency room quickly. And that has meant that 16 times this month, there has been a code-zero event – when there are one or zero ambulances available to be dispatched when an emergency occurs. For all of us with loved ones in Hamilton, that’s terrifying.

It’s simply wrong for people in hospital to have to go without access to patient bathrooms, without dignity and privacy, and without proper infection-control mechanisms as they lay on stretchers in make-shift patient spaces like hallways and waiting rooms. And it’s simply wrong that the people of my community cannot be certain that an ambulance will be there if they need it.

Like the Conservatives before them – who closed 28 hospitals and fired 6,000 nurses – the Wynne Liberals are letting Ontario families pay the price for their failure to adequately fund the health care system. The few temporary beds that the Wynne Liberals promised don’t come close to undoing the damage Wynne caused by years of underfunding and frozen budgets. The overcrowding crisis has been a constant, building pressure in hospitals that are being forced to cope with cuts to front line staff and the health care services that families count on.

With flu season upon us, the crisis is only getting worse, but I believe it’s not too late to turn things around. It really does not have to be this way.

We can do so much better to give Ontario’s incredible doctors, nurses and front line health care workers the resources they need to deliver the kind of care families deserve. I’ve called for a moratorium on any more layoffs of front-line staff. I’m committed to hospital funding that, at a minimum, keeps up with inflation, population growth and the unique needs of each community. And I believe in prevention and wellness programs to keep people healthier, including my pharamacare program that provides a prescription drug plan to everyone, regardless of age or income.

Thank you to the front-line health care workers who are working long days in crowded and hectic hospitals to treat Ontarians in need, including the staff at St. Joe’s and Hamilton Health Sciences. And thank you to families and health care workers speaking out about this issue. New Democrats will keep focusing on our health care system.”