NSNDP

December 4th, 2018

Martin: Cape Breton health care needs help

NEW WATERFORD -- NDP Health Spokesperson and Cape Breton Centre MLA Tammy Martin says the state of health care in Cape Breton is becoming unmanageable. According to a recent story in The Medical Post, Cape Breton has lost about 10 per cent of its physician workforce in the last three months.

“Minister Delorey and the Nova Scotia Health Authority continue to ignore our calls for help and now we see that things are getting even worse,” said Martin. “We don’t have enough doctors and people often have to leave the island to access care. Cape Breton is being left behind.”

Also reported this week, the hospitals in the CBRM have one of the highest mortality rates in Canada. The Canadian Institute for Health Information publishes a standardized hospital mortality ratio each year. It takes health factors, including the age of the population, into account to calculate the mortality rate. In each of the last two years, Cape Breton’s ratio has increased.

“Since decision-making was centralized with the NSHA in 2015, health care has gotten worse,” said Martin. “People here in Cape Breton need to be given the power to make changes, and make them now.”

-30-