Ten people died while the hospitals they needed were full

Auditor reveals 784 life-or-limb patients denied inter-facility transfers because no bed was available

Nearly 800 times since 2016, patients urgently needing the care offered in a different hospital were denied a transfer because there were no beds available. Ten people died while waiting.

“Ten people died waiting, because the hospitals they needed didn’t have a bed available,” said NDP Deputy Leader John Vanthof. “No one deserves to die like that. Imagine if that was your life on the line. Imagine if that was someone you love.”

The shocking revelation comes from the provincial auditor, who found that from April 2016 to March 2019, 784 life-or-limb patients were denied an inter-facility transfer to the closest hospital that could provide the level of care they needed, because the hospital had no bed available. Some were denied more than once — painting a picture of desperate families, praying for life-saving health care but being denied again and again.

Under the Liberals, the number of hospital beds per person dropped while the government cut and squeezed hospital funding. Now, Doug Ford is exacerbating the problem with health care cuts the Financial Accountability Officer says will total $2.7 billion.

“In rural and small-community Ontario, we have smaller hospitals. People need to know they can and will be transferred to the hospital with the specialized care needed to save their lives,” said Vanthof.

“Hallway medicine is going from bad to worse. Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals left our world-class health care system hanging by a thread; and we have to stop Mr. Ford from making it worse. The cuts have to stop. Siphoning health care dollars off to pay for his superbureaucracy needs to stop. Lives are at stake.”