For Immediate Release
January 5, 2024
NL NDP Leader Jim Dinn (MHA, St. John’s Centre) is again calling on government to do the work needed to address the extended wait times being experienced in emergency rooms across the province, along with recruitment and retention of health care workers.
With increased wait times for emergency room visits, NL Health Services made a post on social media asking patients looking for care not at an emergency level to seek other options for health care.
“What are those options? For a lot of people in the province, there is no other option,” said Dinn. “136,000 people in the province have no access to primary health care, and many options like 811 or Medicuro are directing patients to go to the emergency room.
“Just today, I heard from a constituent that went to Medicuro for a prescription refill. Medicuro said they couldn’t write it and said the patient would have to go to the emergency room because they did not have a family doctor and were not assigned to a Collaborative Care Clinic.
Dinn says that this is not a new problem, that this is something that health care workers and patients have experienced for years due to lack of meaningful solutions from the Liberal government.
“It is clear to me that Furey and his government are not listening to those who are working on the front lines of our health care system. They consult, they hold think tanks, and yet we still see no real action on a Human Resources plan,” said Dinn. “We see shiny announcements about a new building to replace St. Clares, yet we don’t know how it will be staffed, when it will be completed, or even where it’s being built. Government refuses to do the real work and continues to hide behind so-called good news stories and announcements.”
“We need recruitment and retention in long-term care so that seniors don’t have to be in hospitals. We need a government that will listen to the solutions brought forward by hard working health care staff who want to be able to deliver the care that patients deserve. Government continues to stand in their way.”
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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