The Ontario NDP say they now have solid numbers to back up their claims of overcrowding in northern hospitals. NDP leader Andrea Horwath and Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas released internal hospital documents showing Health Sciences North has been forced to operate well above safe capacity for 24 months.
Horwath’s office obtained the documents under freedom of information laws. They show that between January 2015 and December 2016, Sudbury’s hospital operated at 100 per cent capacity every day and at times reaching as high as 111 per cent.
Gelinas also shared what she called horror stories of what people have had to deal with. Gelinas mentioned a woman in her 80s went to emergency at HSN because she was in septic shock, but was told there were no beds available. She reportedly spent two days in the emergency room on a stretcher, in a room with no sink or bathroom available.