Timiskaming-Cochrane MPP John Vanthof isn’t letting up on his concerns over healthcare. Vanthof says hospitals, healthcare workers and resources are already at a breaking point and Liberal cuts will only make matters worse. Earlier this week Vanthof talked about the 2.8 billion dollars in health cuts coming by 2019. Now the New Democrat is citing a report from the Auditor General that highlights the massive overcrowding in Northern Ontario hospitals. The hospitals in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay are usually filled to 90 percent capacity and sometimes the Sault hospital goes 20 percent over capacity. Vanthof says the standard capacity for safe occupancy rates is 85 percent and it’s clear that northern hospitals have crossed the safety threshold.
