New data shows hospital overcrowding crisis in London is getting worse: Horwath

LONDON - On Monday, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said overcrowding at London’s hospitals is getting worse and assured families that New Democrats are determined to properly fund and fix the overcrowding crisis. New data obtained by the NDP shows alarming occupancy rates for psychiatric beds, medical beds and very long ER wait times from May to September 2017.
Horwath and local NDP MPPs Peggy Sattler (London West) and Teresa Armstrong (London-Fanshawe) met with the Ontario Health Coalition and London resident Nicole Dorssers to discuss the impact of hospital overcrowding on London families.

“Nicole’s heartbreaking story shows the impact that hospital overcrowding has on patients and their families,” said Horwath. “When she was counting on hospital care for her brother, they were forced to wait in the ER for 16 hours only to end up in a hallway for four days. No one seeking care should be treated this way—families deserve better.”
Data obtained by New Democrats from the London Health Sciences Centre through a Freedom of Information request reveals that psychiatric bed occupancy rates have been over 130 per cent every single day between May 1 and Sept. 22 -- reaching an extraordinary high of 165 per cent on Aug. 22. Medicine and surgical bed occupancy rates were regularly above 100 per cent capacity over the same period and Emergency Departments routinely had dozens of admitted patients waiting for a bed.

“The hospital overcrowding crisis didn’t happen overnight,” said Horwath. “It’s been years in the making, starting with the last Conservative government closing 28 hospitals and firing 6,000 nurses, and worsening with every Liberal budget cut and hospital funding freeze that followed. We must do right by Nicole and all those that have been let down by our health care system.

New Democrats are ready to do something to fix this hospital overcrowding crisis and get London families the care they deserve. We'll start by prioritizing hospital funding that keeps up with inflation, population growth and the unique needs of communities, and we’ll put a moratorium on frontline staff layoffs. It’s time that London families had access to health care that they can count on.”

LHSC Daily Occupancy (as per internal calculation): 2017-05-01 to 2017-09-22