Ontario‘s Health Minister is calling on patients to show more compassion for health-care workers in overwhelmed emergency departments after the province’s Patient Ombudsman recorded a spike in complaints about the health-care system during the pandemic.
A new report by the ombudsman shows a 43 per cent increase in the volume of complaints from patients and their caregivers in 2021-22 about lack of sensitivity, caring, courtesy, or respect in provincial emergency departments.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones blamed the increase in complaints on COVID-19 and the resulting staffing challenges that have plagued hospitals province-wide, but added that patients “have a role to play.”
“I would ask people take a little bit of patience and have a little bit of compassion when you are you are that individual waiting in the emergency department because individuals who are sicker and need access to critical care faster,” Jones told reporters at Queen’s Park.
“No one wants to wait in an emergency department. No one wants to see an individual who is in a mental health crisis be treated inappropriately,” Jones said. “But I’m also asking for people to be our understanding and appreciating that these are challenging times for everyone.”
Jones’s comments were immediately targeted by the government’s political critics who called it “victim blaming.”
- Canadian man dies during Texas Ironman event. His widow wants answers as to why
- ‘Sciatica was gone’: hospital performs robot-assisted spinal surgery in Canadian first
- Canadians more likely to eat food past best-before date. What are the risks?
- Treatment from female doctors leads to lower death rates, study finds
“The fact that this minister would stand here and tell Ontarians that the problem is that they’re not being nice enough as patients to health care workers misses the whole point,” said NDP Leader Marit Stiles.
Stiles, instead, pointed the finger at Bill 124 — the Ford government’s wage suppression legislation that held public sector salary increases at one per cent per year for three-year contracts — as one of the main reasons behind the challenges in health care.
“In fact, they’re taking them to court to try to continue to suppress their wages, which is the major reason why we have a staffing crisis in this province,” Stiles said.
The Ford government is appealing a ruling from an Ontario judge that deemed Bill 124 to be unconstitutional.
Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said the minister should be focusing on stabilizing the health-care system instead of blaming patients.
“I think she’s wrong,” Fraser said about the minister’s response to the ombudsman’s report. “It is her responsibility.”
Comments