Horwath will build a new Brampton hospital, end hallway medicine

NDP’s Change for the Better will end overcrowding, chronic underfunding in Ontario hospitals

The platform also commits to relieve the crush hospitals are experiencing by:

• Implementing drug and dental coverage for all Ontarians to keep people healthier
• Adding 2,000 new hospital beds right away, part of $1.2 billion in new funding
• Ending the arbitrary caps on the number of surgeries performed to shorten surgical wait times

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has announced  that New Democrats will build a new hospital in Brampton.

Horwath also said she will expand the Peel Memorial Centre, building it up into a full hospital. With three hospitals in Brampton, the NDP will end hallway medicine in the city that’s seen thousands of patients each year treated in the hallways of its overcrowded and only hospital.

“It’s time to deal with the painfully long waits for care in Ontario hospitals, and give families the care they deserve,” said Horwath.

“After 15 years of Liberal governments, the long waits in Brampton have gotten worse and worse, while the number of patients left on gurneys in hallways has grown. And Doug Ford and the Conservatives have promised to cut more than $6 billion across the board, and privatize as many services as they can. Instead of building up health care for Brampton families, that would make waits longer, and the hospital more crowded.But change for the better is possible, and I will work closely with the City of Brampton to make it happen,” she added.

Brampton and all of Ontario had a look at how devastating the overcrowding at Brampton Civic hospital is when Horwath reveladed that in just one year, 4,352 patients had been treated in hallways at the hospital.

“People in Brampton – including health care workers, members of council, and health care experts – have been raising alarm bells about the crisis in area hospitals for years,” said Horwath. “So let’s do something about it.”

Horwath’s platform, Change for the Better, commits to investing $19 billion over 10 years into hospital infrastructure, plus operational funding that keeps up with the unique needs of growing, aging communities – including an immediate injection of $1.2 billion to end hallway medicine and address the overcrowding crisis.