For Immediate Release
16 January, 2023
Friday afternoon, Labrador Grenfell Health announced that medical diversions which started on December 23rd, 2022 and were scheduled to end January 13th, 2023 will continue for at least another 10 days. Labrador West NDP M.H.A. Jordan Brown has concerns about the impact this will have on patients and their families. For years, rather than listening to workers and improving the working conditions of public healthcare workers, the provincial government and regional health authorities relied on locums and private nursing agencies to fill vacancies. The NL NDP says this can’t continue and that people deserve a reliable public healthcare system, and the workers within it deserve respect and a work life balance.
“What’s most frustrating is that healthcare workers have been sounding the alarm for years that their work environments needed to change. Instead of doing the work, successive governments ignored workers and pushed them to carry more responsibilities until they finally said ‘I can’t live like this anymore’,” said Brown.
People across Labrador are struggling through the healthcare crisis with patients being diverted to Labrador West, where housing options are scarce, ahead of anticipated procedures like childbirth.
“I’m deeply concerned the stress that these diversions are adding to patients, like expecting mothers, who are being sent further away from their homes and families to Labrador West where housing is in short supply, and accommodations are scarce,” said Brown. “Saying ’it’s a national problem’ isn’t an acceptable excuse. Government continues to rely on the private healthcare solutions that led to these diversions. Government’s focus should be working with healthcare providers so they have renewed confidence in the public healthcare system. Healthcare workers need to trust government has their backs, otherwise all of us should expect more GoFundMe pages as people get desperate trying to access healthcare they deserve.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca