London MPPs to Ford: London's Children’s Hospital needs urgent help

LONDON — Peggy Sattler (London West), Teresa Armstrong (London Fanshawe) and Terence Kernaghan (London North Centre) are calling on the Ford government to immediately bring back the legislature and deliver urgent support to Ontario’s health care system as London’s Children’s Hospital sounds the alarm.
Running at well over 100 per cent capacity, London Health Sciences Centre is reassigning staff to the Children’s Hospital, begging retirees to return, offering overtime, and possibly taking away holidays for health care workers, according to reports of an internal memo sent to staff Wednesday.
“The situation in our London hospitals is absolutely unsustainable,” said Armstrong. “Children are waiting hours for care, while others are having vital surgeries postponed. Parents are afraid that if their child needs medical care over the holidays, they may face long waits, overcrowded rooms, or even an airlift to a different city. For any parent, that is terrifying.”
“Health care workers have been through so much in the last few years,” added Sattler. “It’s unfair that the Ford government has put our hospitals in the position to ask even more of them because our hospitals simply don’t have the resources to deal with this surge. Ford didn’t add a single new penny to health care in the Fall Economic Statement — he has the power to help right now and he is actively choosing not to.”
London Health Sciences Centre is the largest hospital network in Southwestern Ontario, serving a massive rural area surrounding London.
“Ford and Jones seem intent on burying their heads in the sand and pretending everything is fine,” said Kernaghan. “Nothing about this crisis is okay. Ford and Jones are wrong to waste public money appealing their unlawful Bill 124. The Ford government’s wage-capping legislation is making the health care crisis worse by causing nurses to leave.”
“The staffing crisis will get even worse if the government forces health care workers to keep burning the candle at both ends -- losing holidays, precious time with loved ones, and sleep,” added Kernaghan. “The government can and must fix the staffing crisis in health care by recruiting, retaining, and returning nurses with competitive wages and benefits. We are calling on Ford to immediately bring back the legislature to do the work that is needed to address the crisis in hospitals like London’s Children’s Hospital and beyond.”