Liberal government closures of seniors care beds causing hospital crisis in Interior hospitals -- Internal health report
VICTORIA – An internal report from the Interior Health Authority points to a growing crisis in interior hospitals as a result of the BC Liberal government’s closure of seniors care facilities, NDP MLA Katrine Conroy said today.
The Campbell government would like British Columbians to believe that the tragic story of a senior in Trail that died after being transferred from her husband of seventy years is an isolated incident, however today the New Democrat Opposition has uncovered the truth: Seniors lives are being put in danger all across BC because of the Campbell Liberals broken promises in health care.
“Health Minister George Abbott said this morning that that the tragic Albo case was an isolated incident and I suggest he should be ashamed of that statement,” said New Democrat Seniors Health Critic Katrine Conroy. “The Chair of the IHA’s medical advisory panel says right off the top that hospitals are too full, and something needs to be done about it.”
According to the internal document the Kootenay-Boundary Hospital in Trail, the same hospital that Fanny Albo was taken from, there is a 126 percent increase in the number of seniors in acute care beds. Two senior facilities were closed in the area, and Conroy says enough is enough.
“Mr. Abbott’s glib sarcasm about these serious issues must stop, and the Campbell Liberals must address the seniors care crisis immediately,” Conroy, the MLA from Kootenay-Boundary said. “Seniors and children are dying under this government’s watch and the best the Health Minister has to offer is a wise-crack, and a whole-hearted, ringing endorsement of the province’s health care system.”
Last year’s budget was called a “senior’s budget. This year’s has been dubbed by the Campbell government as a “children’s budget.” The Campbell government has completely mismanaged both the Ministry of Health and Child and Family Development files and Conroy is demanding solutions.
“Seniors do not need any more empty rhetoric from the Health Minister and the BC Liberal government,” concluded Conroy. “Seniors in BC need this government to fulfill its promise to built 5000 long-term care beds, and treat them with the respect that they deserve.”
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