ER crisis hot topic during health care town hall

Health care town hall in London London's NDP MPPs hosted a town hall on health care in the wake of 20 hour wait times at local ERs. Bryan Bicknell reports.

From marathon emergency room wait times to staff shortages across public health care — London New Democrat MPPs heard an earful from concerned residents Thursday night at a town hall meeting on health care.

“Wait times for essentially any health care service, for specialist appointments, surgeries are higher than ever before,” said London Fanshawe MPP Teresa Armstrong, who co-hosted the meeting with London North Centre MPP Terence Kernaghan.

London West New Democrat MPP Peggy Sattler was absent due to a positive COVID test, according to Kernaghan.

About 50 people took in the meeting at Goodwill Industries on Horton Street.

Front and centre was the issue of wait times at ERs across Ontario, with London Health Sciences Centre now reporting 20 hour waits at its ERs.

“We pride ourselves on our institutions, on the great people that we have working on the front lines, the research that we do here in this city,” said Kernaghan. “Yet, we see people who are worked off of their feet.”

Mother of four kids Stacey Evoy questioned whether some of the practices put in place during the pandemic should have been continued.

“There was great services put in place to avoid people going to ERs,” explained Evoy. “Like, for example you could phone in, you could meet with a doctor virtually to talk about a problem with your child to avoid you going to the ER.”

Registered Nurse Janet Hunt pointed out that 69 per cent of nurses across Ontario have indicated they plan to leave the profession in the next five years.

She wonders if they’re leaving the public system behind for more welcoming opportunities.

“A lot of them are looking for jobs that are less stressful, that have better shifts,that have better pay, better working conditions where they feel respected,” said Hunt.