Health care was the focus of Andrea Horwath’s stop in Kitchener on Tuesday.
The NDP leader talked about issues ranging from hospital overcrowding to long-term care to mental health services as she spoke in front of a crowd of supporters in downtown Kitchener.
On long-term care, she said 32,000 Ontario residents are currently on a waiting list for space in long-term care facilities – a number projected to grow in the near future due to demographic trends.
“We have a long-term care system that’s not meeting the needs of our most vulnerable and treasured seniors,” she said.
Horwath said the NDP plans to add 40,000 long-term care beds to Ontario’s system over 10 years, if elected, and mandate that all patients must receive four hours of hands-on care per day.
“That’s the kind of humane care that we need to bring to long-term care,” she said.
Horwath also touched on the case of Elizabeth Wettlaufer – a nurse who killed eight patients at long-term care homes in Woodstock and London. The NDP has been pressing for a public inquiry in the case to be expanded to cover all facets of the long-term care system. Horwath vowed that if she becomes premier, the inquiry’s scope will be increased within 100 days.
