SUSAN LEBLANC: Speaker, my question is also for the Minister of Health and Wellness. This week alone, there have been announcements for emergency room closures at Fishermen’s Memorial Hospital, North Cumberland Memorial Hospital, All Saints Springhill Hospital, Queen’s General Hospital, Eastern Memorial Hospital, Digby General Hospital, Glace Bay Hospital, and Strait Richmond Hospital. Does the minister find it acceptable that Nova Scotians in these communities are regularly left without an open emergency room in their area?
HON. MICHELLE THOMPSON: I will say, as I said a few minutes earlier, the biggest challenges that we’re facing are our capacity in terms of beds, but also in terms of our health care workforce. We know particularly that there is a nursing shortage across this province. We have been working very, very hard. We have increased the number of seats. We’re working with the Collegeof Registered Nurses to bring in internationally educated nurses. We’re doing a very intentional program in order to train and bring nurses into our health care system so that they’re able to care for communities. We’re looking and working with people in the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration to ensure that internationally educated nurses are settled and transitioned to communities in a very meaningful way. It is going to take time, but certainly we have seen an incredible amount of action and investment in health care since we’ve formed government.
SUSAN LEBLANC: ER closures cause crowding and long waits at regional hospitals as people travel further for care and cause massive stress and delays on paramedics. A FOIPOP filed by our caucus shows that the number of people leaving ERs without being seen continues to go up and up. It has increased again by 24 per cent this year. I can table that. This government promised to fix health care, but to the Nova Scotians facing emergency room closures and lengthy wait times, this just isn’t the case. Yes, it takes time, but Nova Scotians can’t wait any longer. When will the conditions in emergency rooms improve?
MICHELLE THOMPSON: Things are improving. I would draw attention to the Patient Access to Care Act, and the work that’s done with the college: 18,000 nurses have applied to come and live in Nova Scotia -a bill, I might add, that the NDP voted against when they were on the floor of this House. Here we are -we have just settled a new contract with nurses, and we have just settled a new contract with physicians. We are becoming a destination for health care workers around the world, as evidenced by the number of people who are coming here. They don’t want to look at the things that are going well. Ican assure you that we are investing. We are working our tails off to make sure that Nova Scotians have the health care they need and deserve, which was never a priority under the two previous governments.