Nickel Belt MPP Shelley Martel is insisting health minister George Smitherman needs to meet with local politicians and public health officials to discuss a solution to the hospital bed crisis facing the elderly in Sudbury.
In a letter to Smitherman on Wednesday, Martel reminded the minister that the Category-1A crisis designation, which sends long-term care patients as far away as Espanola, Manitoulin Island and Parry Sound, has been in effect for over a year with no end in sight.
Martel points to government failure and a lack of leadership within the ministry as the cause of the problems.
"The minister should show leadership by meeting with local politicians promptly and devising a comprehensive, long-term solution not only for seniors . . . but also for the many patients requiring surgery who deserve to get the health care they need in a timely fashion," she said.
Many seniors groups in Sudbury have already become vocal about the patient transfers in recent weeks, hoping to prevent their loved ones from being sent to out of town long-term care facilities.
