May 24th, 2017
People in Cape Breton need solutions to health care crisis, not a lunch date
Mental health wait times up to a year
SYDNEY- NDP candidate for Sydney Whitney-Pier Madonna Doucette says Stephen McNeil needs to cut his lunch short at the Chamber of Commerce and tell families in Cape Breton why their loved ones have to wait 354 days to get the mental health care they need.
In 2015, the Liberal Health Minister announced that the Liberals were putting the finishing touches on a new Collaborative Emergency Centre in New Waterford and that others were on their way. To date, none have been opened.
“The Liberals promised that they would move on opening Collaborative Emergency Centres in Cape Breton and improve our health and mental health care,” said NDP Candidate for Sydney Whitney-Pier Madonna Doucette. “Two years later, none have been opened, and the health care crisis in Cape Breton has continued to get worse as people are waiting hours in emergency rooms, not getting the mental health care they need, or showing up at the hospital only to find the emergency room is closed.”
Doucette noted the NDPs plan to address the health care crisis in Cape Breton includes:
- Opening New Collaborative Emergency Centres at the Northside General, and in New Waterford and Glace Bay to provide same day or next day appointments
- Doubling the initial investment in the Mental Health and Addictions Strategy
- Opening a new mental health hub at the ER in Sydney to take pressure off emergency rooms
- Reversing the $600,000 in cuts to community based care groups and invest an additional $150,000
- Earmarking no more than $17 million to recruit and retain doctors, nurses and health care professionals in Cape Breton
- Giving seniors the care they need by reversing the McNeil Liberal cuts to nursing homes and open new long-term care beds
“The NDP is the only party with a plan to address the health care crisis in Cape Breton to make sure that people have the care they need,” said Doucette. “Stephen McNeil continues to try and run away from his record that caused the crisis in health care. He needs to explain to Cape Bretoners how emergency room closures, a lack of family doctors, and families in crisis with no mental health is not a crisis.”
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