NDP Demands Immediate Action for Surrey Mental Health Patients
New Democrat MLAs Raj Chouhan and Sue Hammell are demanding an explanation regarding serious discrepancies in the handling of mental health patients at the Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Raj Chouhan
Surrey - Green Timbers NDP MLA Sue Hammell said she was shocked to hear reports that a mental health patient who committed suicide after being released from Surrey Memorial Hospital’s psychiatric ward had been released because there was not enough space in the ward to continue to keep him.
"It is unacceptable that people with severe mental health problems and their families are being left on their own to fight a losing battle with an uncaring system. The B.C. Liberals have dropped the ball on the most vulnerable patients in B.C. - and tragedies like this one are becoming a norm in the province," said Hammell.
Sue HammellHammell also echoed the plea of a Surrey mother of a severely mentality ill daughter who faces the threat of being moved from a secure psychiatric ward to an open ward, which will result in her becoming even more vulnerable.
NDP Mental Health Critic Raj Chouhan noted that the B.C. Liberals callous attitude towards the mental health patients further confirms the suspicion raised by a leaked copy of the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) Service Plan for 2007/08 that the plight of mental health patients in B.C. will continue to worsen.
Under the Mental Health and Addictions section of the Fraser Health Authority Service Plan revealed by the NDP last month, it is stated, "…there are no additional community based clinical resources available to support adults and seniors coping with a serious and persistent mental illness, resulting in delays in follow up from acute inpatient care and increases the number of Emergency Department crisis visits for this population. Without new targeted resources for additional supported housing units, wait lists for residential care and those at risk for homelessness with a mental health or addictions issue will continue to grow."
"The Campbell government has a pattern of punishing the most vulnerable. Instead of using part of B.C.’s $3-billion surplus to support the mentally ill, Gordon Campbell is leaving them worse off than they have ever been," said Chouhan.
"I call on Health Minister George Abbott to provide an immediate explanation for the hospital’s conduct related to these two specific cases – and take action to fix an entire mental health system in crisis," said Chouhan.
