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HSN's occupancy as high as 111%, hallway medicine now 'the norm'

NDP releases numbers to highlight severity of hospital overcrowding

Over the two-year period from January 2015 to December 2016, Health Sciences North's largest ward, the medical/acute care ward, never went under 100 per cent occupancy.

In fact, in February 2016, its occupancy went as high as 111.49 per cent. This information was revealed through documents obtained by the Ontario NDP under freedom of information laws.

“This is important because experts have pegged an occupancy rate that is safe for hospitals at 85 per cent,” said Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, speaking at a June 27 press conference outside of Health Sciences North.

“This is experts from around the world such as the World Health Organization. It's acknowledged here in Ontario by our own Ministry of Health that a safe occupancy rate is 85 per cent.”

With high occupancy rates such as these, hallway medicine has become the norm not only at Health Sciences North, but in other places in Ontario, she said.

Some health-care horror stories of HSN patients were shared by Nickel Belt MPP and NDP Health and Long-Term Care Critic France Gélinas.

She joined Horwath at the press conference along with newly-minted Sudbury NDP candidate Jamie West.

Olive Bird, a woman in her 80s, went to Health Sciences North for a serious medical condition, and spent two days in the emergency department on a stretcher, only to be moved to a patient lounge with three other patients.

“One night it was just so noisy in that patient lounge with other patients that the nurse felt sorry for her and moved her into the shower room so she could sleep,” Gélinas said.

She also shared the story of a 12-year-old boy from the Valley area of Greater Sudbury who suffers from anxiety and depression, and was brought to Health Sciences North's emergency department.

He spent four days there before being admitted to the children's mental health ward, which has just six beds.

“Overcrowding in our hospital is having an effect on the quality of care,” Gélinas said.

“It's having an effect on the health of Northern Ontarians and Sudburians. The hospital is doing as best they can. They are coping as best they can. They now have a $7.1 million deficit because they don't say no to anybody.”

Kathleen Wynne's Liberals have brought this “downward spiral” onto Ontario's hospitals through years of inadequate funding and budget freezes, Horwath said. 

“In this last budget she shortchanged the hospital system by at least $300 million,” she said.

“So it's pretty clear with Katheen Wynne at the helm, wait times are only going to get longer, and hallway medicine, which is becoming the norm in too many communities across Ontario, will only get worse.”

Horwath promised that the New Democrats, should they form the government, would guarantee hospital funding will always keep up with inflation, at a minimum.

Sudbury.com reached out to both Health Sciences North and Sudbury MPP and Ontario Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault's office for a response.

Health Sciences North didn't provide a response as of this article's publication, but Thibeault's office sent along a statement attributed to Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins.

“NDP leader Andrea Horwath continues to mislead Ontarians with selective and inaccurate information about our hospitals,” the statement reads.

“Over the past two years, the NDP voted against $14 million in new funds for Health Sciences North, amounting to a total investment of $279 million annually.

This year alone, the NDP refused to support more than $30 million in investments for Northern Ontario hospitals as laid out in the 2017 budget.

“The NDP also voted against our OHIP+ plan that would see nearly 25,000 children and youth in the Sudbury area alone have free access to over 4,400 eligible prescription medications.

“If NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is serious about investing in health care then she should have supported the 2017 budget where we increased health-care funding by $11.5 billion over the next three years, including a 3.1 per cent overall increase across the hospital sector this year — greater than the rate of inflation.”


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Heidi Ulrichsen

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