Andrea Horwath (front) speaking outside St. Joseph's hospital alongside Terence Kernaghan (far left), Teresa Armstrong (middle left), and Peggy Sattler. (Kate Otterbein / XFM News)
NDP MPP Andrea Horwath was outside of St. Joseph’s Hospital today speaking about ongoing healthcare issues. Fellow MPPs, Terence Kernaghan, Teresa Armstrong, and Peggy Sattler were also there alongside Horwath.
Kernaghan introduced Horwath, mentioning that healthcare access is one of the most common issues he has heard about.
“Under the liberals, the hospital budgets were squeezed and cut. They fired 1600 nurses, and Doug Ford did not hire those nurses back. Then during the pandemic, he hasn’t done anything to hire or retain existing nursing staff,” says Horwath.
Horwath says she acknowledges the exhaustion that nurses and healthcare workers are feeling.
“We would get rid of Bill 124. It discourages nurses and treats them badly. They are burnt out, they’re exhausted. What they need is a government that’s recognizing their work.”
Horwath says they put a plan in place to retain healthcare workers and to hire more.
“As we continue to see people leaving the healthcare professions, that means longer wait times where people are waiting in pain and in some cases, their health circumstances deteriorate and that’s not what we deserve. ”
She adds that everybody is feeling the same pressure right now, especially healthcare workers.
“If we are frustrated going into a hospital, for example, let’s take a deep breath, take a step back, and acknowledge that there’s a pressure cooker here that Doug Ford is simply not addressing.”
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