The government is still refusing to take any action to address the worsening hallway medicine crisis afflicting London and communities across Ontario.
London's MPPs said in the legislature Tuesday that the government has to do better.
“London’s hallway medicine crisis is so serious that earlier this year, London Health Sciences Centre was forced to implement a ‘Hallway Transfer Protocol’ to deal with the daily, year-round reality of patients lined up for treatment in hospital hallways,” said MPP for London West, Peggy Sattler. “With flu season coming, the waits will get even longer, and the number of people forced to spend days on gurneys in hallways will only grow.”
MPP for London North Centre, Terence Kernaghan, said that the government has actually allocated fewer dollars for 2018's flu season than the previous government.
"The previous government let Ontario down by allocating a mere $100 million for flu season -- and not one dollar of that was for permanent beds, it was all just temporary," said Kernaghan. “The current government is taking us from bad to worse, cutting that annual, temporary bed allocation by $10 million. And since none of the funding is currently allocated to new beds at LHSC, it won’t do anything at all for London.”
In question period on Tuesday, MPP for London-Fanshawe Teresa Armstrong described how the cuts and funding shortfalls are impacting people. Armstrong shared the heartbreaking story of Londoners Marcel and Christine Turgeon -- hurt by an overburdened, overcrowded system.
“After treating Marcel for a heart attack, the hospital placed him into long-term care several hours from his wife in order to free up a needed bed, causing him to lose his priority status at local London facilities,” said Armstrong. “The distance between them has put incredible stress on Marcel, who -- on top of suffering from dementia and being separated from his wife -- has also had his foot amputated.
"What the Turgeon family has been going through is wrong. Instead of cutting health care, the government should be investing more to end hallway medicine."