Concerns are being raised by the Nova Scotia NDP over emergency room demands in Lower Sackville.
Opposition Leader Claudia Chender held a news conference outside the Cobequid Community Health Centre on Wednesday to call for answers.
“The bottom line is that Tim Houston made a promise to Nova Scotians to fix health care. Now, four years on, Nova Scotians still don’t have the care they deserve and the health-care workers here at the Cobequid are forced to turn sick people away,” she said.
Chender’s comments come two weeks after the NDP say a doctor working at the ER reached out to the area MLA, Paul Wozney, for help.
Wozney says the physician called him “in a panic,” expressing grave concerns due to high demand.
“Patients, including one who suffered a stroke, were being turned away,” said Wozney, who represents Sackville-Cobequid.
“For staff, it was an impossible situation — trying to provide care in a system breaking down around them.”
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That call prompted Wozney to write a letter to Health Minister Michelle Thompson. Wozney claims he’s still waiting for a reply two weeks later.
“The Houston government needs to act urgently, and that starts with giving people answers about when they’ll get the health care that they deserve,” he said.
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The NDP wants the provincial government to deliver on its 2022 promise to expand the Cobequid Community Health Centre and include an inpatient unit.
In a statement from the Department of Health and Wellness, ministerial assistant Nick Hilton says, “Our government understands the frustrations of Nova Scotians facing long wait times at the Cobequid Community Health Centre. When we made a promise to fix health care, we meant it.”
He goes on to say there is more work to be done but points to progress that has already been made, particularly around physician recruitment.
The department says the number of new doctors coming to the province is up 80 per cent.
In a separate statement, Nova Scotia Health says that anyone in critical need of care at their emergency departments “will be seen” as the facility operates on a triage approach.
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