Eight-month wait for major heart surgery unacceptable: Dinn

By Staff/September 9, 2021

Opposition Health Critic Paul Dinn says he’s hearing from constituents concerned about lengthy wait times for important surgeries.

“We’ve raised concerns before about wait times for surgeries resulting from changes to our hospitals due to COVID-19. But it appears those issues continue,” said the MHA for Topsail-Paradise. “One person I’ve spoken with says their father was told he needed major heart surgery in January. It wasn’t until this week the family got a date for the surgery. We can be thankful the family is finally seeing progress, but eight months waiting for major heart surgery cannot be acceptable in the Newfoundland and Labrador healthcare system. What’s unfortunate is we know these kinds of delays are all too common. The wait for surgery is a matter of life and death and I worry how many are falling through the cracks of our healthcare system.”

Dinn said it’s the latest example of a healthcare system pushed to its limits, with people and their families suffering as a result.

“Here’s another example where staffing at our hospitals is causing delays and pain for families,” he added. “The person I spoke with was told the delay was primarily due to short staffing. How is that acceptable? Yet Minister Haggie continues to ignore the cries for help from people trying to access our healthcare system. We are facing a crisis and government refuses to acknowledge it, let alone act on it. We need a detailed, updated healthcare recruitment plan before the system spirals out of control.”