Senior gives up on wait times at Kingston General Hospital, moves to Toronto

Hospital wait times have been an ongoing issue across the province, and in Kingston, senior citizen Lydia Macpherson decided that she’d had enough and didn’t want to deal with the Kingston General Hospital any longer.

“I don’t want to die waiting for an operation that could’ve been done a whole lot sooner” Macpherson said.

As a result, she packed up and moved to Toronto.  Macpherson, who deals with a uterine prolapse condition, says she struggled to get appointments at the Kingston General Hospital.

“It’s getting worse, and it’s starting to affect my body functions” she said.

Early this year, Macpherson was told she’d be lucky if she got an appointment for her surgery by December.

CKWS decided to ask the NDP’s Ian Arthur, who is currently the MPP for Kingston and the Islands, what he thinks about Macpherson’s concerns.

“That’s incredibly tragic to hear, but I’m also afraid that those stories are far too common in Kingston” Arthur said.

An 85 per cent capacity rate in hospitals is considered safe to allow room for an influx of patients, but Kingston General has been operating at over one hundred per cent capacity since 2012.

“They’re operating beds that they are not even licensed for” said Arthur.

Macpherson says she also dealt with similar frustrations when her late husband was in palliative care at KGH.

“I can’t do anything about him,” Macpherson said. “He’s gone, but I certainly can express how I feel.”

Since relocating to Toronto, Macpherson says she’s happier with the health care system and expects to have her surgery booked soon.

“Look, we’re serious about this, we know what’s going on. Let’s get things done. That’s the feeling I got, and it’s the first time I had that feeling,” said Macpherson.

Shawna Johnston, an obstetrician gynecologist at Kingston General Hospital, said, “It’s an easy assumption to assume that it’s better elsewhere, but really, this is a struggle that crosses all sectors in the province and we are struggling with long wait times particularly for elective surgeries.”

“It’s really a provincial issue, not a Kingston issue,” Johnston said.

Asked what he plans to do about this issue in Kingston, Arthur said, “We’re going to hold the government to account on hospital wait times.”

Macpherson regrets leaving the city where she and her late husband spent 19 years, but she’s doing what’s best for her health, she says — and she hopes her story will make a difference for the community.