Resignation of Health PEI Chair Latest Indication of System Failure
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHARLOTTETOWN – Islanders have no faith in the King government’s ability to fix PEI’s health-care problems as the government continues to mismanage the system, says Third Party Health Critic Robert Henderson (O’Leary-Inverness).
“I’m completely stunned when the government now says by the end of this month, it will have a projection of the long-term requirements on PEI when it comes to recruiting and retaining health-care professionals,” said Henderson. “What have the premier and his health minister been doing for the last four years? How are they only now assessing the needs of Islanders when it comes to health care? We need action now!”
Henderson was reacting to Health Minister Ernie Hudson’s comments yesterday that he is looking at the requirements of the health-care system as the government makes changes.
“It’s clear that the minister has no vision and no plan to improve health care on PEI,” he said. “More than 26,000 residents have no family doctor and EDs at rural hospitals are closing. He’s so far behind in managing the system it’s not even funny.”
MLA Hal Perry (Tignish-Palmer Road) pointed out that Western Hospital’s Collaborative Emergency Centre has been closed since November, and residents still don’t know when services will resume. “This is causing a lot of anxiety for residents because they’re not confident if they’ll get the emergency care they need, when they need it,” said Perry, adding that the next closest hospital in the region after Western is another hour away.
It was also recently revealed that Health PEI Board Chair Derek Key resigned last month. In his resignation letter, he called for a culture that values all workers, not just some. This confirms Henderson’s concerns at Health PEI for some time.
“We’ve been saying that when you have retention incentives for only some workers and bonuses for executives, you’re going to severely demoralize excluded workers at a time when they’re already burning out and wanting to leave their professions,” said Henderson. “Now, it seems we’re not the only ones concerned about these issues when the board chair has resigned.”
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