"Patient care has suffered and our health care system has been thrown into turmoil.”
"Health care system crumbles under weight of Liberal neglect," trumpets the latest news release from the NDP caucus decrying what they say is a woeful state of affairs in minister Leo Glavine's department
The release points to three separate incidents in the span of 24 hours, which NDP health critic Dave Wilson says "highlight the deteriorating state of Nova Scotia’s health care system under the McNeil government."
Wednesday, says the release, the Dartmouth General was asking patients to go elsewhere due to overcrowding while the preparation of chemotherapy drugs was disrupted at the Centennial building in Halifax due to more flooding. Meanwhile, adds Wilson's release, a staff person at the New Waterford mental health clinic went public with concerns over the declining state of that facility.
The McNeil government recently announcement that they paid $1 million to outsource blood pathology work to an American clinic and Emergency Room at the Roseway Hospital closures on eight separate occasions in the past three weeks, were also noted.
“There is a reason for this very troubling string of events in our health care system and it’s the same reason Emergency Room closures have increased by 30% in the past year,” says Wilson. “The McNeil government has frozen the health care budget, they’ve asked the health authority to cut 1% of spending across the board, and Stephen McNeil’s top priority has been picking fights with our province’s dedicated health care workers. As a result patient care has suffered and our health care system has been thrown into turmoil.”