MPP says mental health patients could use beds
Windsor has 89 health care beds going unused due to a lack of provincial funding, despite a surge in hospital admissions that has kept Windsor Regional Hospital at or above capacity throughout the winter.
Windsor West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky raised the issue during question period at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, calling on the Liberal government to provide more funding.
In particular, Gretzky said some of the unused beds could offer space for more mental health care, which this community needs in particular.
“Decades of cuts and stagnant funding by this Liberal government have pushed our mental health system into a crisis,” Gretzky said in the legislature. “Windsor’s seniors are waiting months for mental health services, and many with specialized mental health needs like dementia are being placed in acute care because there is nowhere else for them to go. But there’s an easy way to help alleviate this crisis.”
The 89 unused beds at HotelDieu Grace Healthcare could easily be put into use, she said. “Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare in Windsor has available beds — the units are built and ready to go,” she said. “All they need is the financial support of this government so that the beds can be fully operational and seniors can be placed appropriately.”
In an interview with the Star, Gretzky said she decided to raise the issue after taking a recent tour of the Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare facility and being shocked to see not just beds but two wings going largely unused. According to the NDP, some 2,000 health care beds are unused across the province, with 89 of them at one facility in Windsor — which suggests the problem is more acute locally. Windsor Regional Hospital is emerging form its busiest winter in history, with capacity the last three months typically ranging from 100 to 103 per cent, thanks to a harsh flu season and cold and snowy conditions that led to a lot of slips and falls.
Gretzky said part of the hospital’s problem is that people who need mental health care are winding up in emergency rooms because they can’t access the services they truly need.
Adding to the crunch is an ongoing opioid epidemic that has hit Windsor and Essex County harder than the provincial average. Janice Kaffer, CEO of HotelDieu Grace Healthcare, said 16 of the unused beds are specifically for mental health patients.
“We have the ability with the our 16 mental health beds to be able to provide services pretty much immediately,” Kaffer said. “This is an opportunity to utilize these beds in a way that would support the community working better.” Kaffer said the government has been addressing the issue, but that there is still room for Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare — which operates on a $100-million annual budget — to help the community even more.
“We have been talking about mental health for some time and talking about the need for investments,” Kaffer said. “So I’m glad Lisa is asking the question.” Laura Gallant, press secretary for Minister of Health and LongTerm Care Helena Jaczek, wrote in an email: “The ministry is in regular, ongoing communication with our hospitals and LHINs to remain attuned to their needs. We will continue to work with our hospitals and their LHIN partners to ensure Ontario patients are receiving the high-quality care they need, when and where they need it.”