BILL 7 WILL HURT MORE THAN IT HELPS

QUEEN’S PARK – After months of nurses, doctors, and many others pleading for the Ford government to repeal Bill 124 and build up our workforce in healthcare, Doug Ford and Sylvia Jones have instead chosen to authorize the transfer of patients from hospitals to long-term care homes without their consent. This rule will violate patients’ basic rights and will hurt more than it helps by moving them away from their family and support networks.

“After all that we have learned from the pandemic, it is appalling that this government continues to propose the wrong solutions at the wrong time,” said MPP Fraser. “Not only is their plan wrong for Ontarians and their families, but it’s also wrong for our long-term care homes, which are under even greater staffing pressures than our hospitals and whose pleas to the Ford government for help have been ignored.”

Unlike hospitals, long-term care homes can’t close down services to relieve staffing pressures. Long-term care homes are fully operational 24/7 making the current staffing crisis even more acute. There is no relief valve for them and that puts residents and staff at risk.

Along with failing to adequately address the healthcare crisis head-on and the need for more healthcare workers, Bill 7 will also cause patients further distress by separating them from the support networks they have come to depend upon.

“It is cruel and unjust to transfer patients away from their families and away from their communities without respect for their wishes,” said Dr. Adil Shamji. “Applying this pressure to vulnerable patients will only compromise their care and deepen the crisis in our healthcare system.”

“The Ford government needs to take immediate action to fix the healthcare crisis by repealing Bill 124, getting serious about hiring the thousands of foreign-trained nurses currently in Ontario, and stopping for-profit agencies from gouging our hospitals and long-term care homes,” added Dr. Adil Shamji.