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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 30, 2007 - 7 Hospital tour ends with Tory attacking Liberal healthcare record By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) was the backdrop of Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory's latest attack on the McGuinty government, as he blasted it for its healthcare record. Accompanied by Conservative candidate Rick Byers and Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh, Tory toured OTMH Thursday where he was struck by the overcrowding taking place there. "We specifically went through the Intensive Care Unit, the Dialysis Unit and the Emergency Room. These areas, according to what I was told by the doctors, nurses and administrators today, are under immense stress in this hospital," said Tory. "The Emergency Room, they told me, while today is fairly quiet, there are many other days you'll come in and there are people lined up and down the halls on stretchers and ambulances lined up in the driveway. In the Dialysis Unit, they've now converted space out of old locker rooms to put people in to take the dialysis treatment, and in the ICU they've just opened six new beds, but they're basically full already." While Tory acknowledges the government does have a new larger hospital in the works for Oakville he points out it will not be functional until 2013. "What are we going to do over the next six or seven years?" he asked. "For the next four months, we're going to be keeping the whip on Mr. McGuinty and his government because they need it. They have a bad habit of handing out rubber checks and making announcements that never amount to anything." Besides slamming McGuinty for the situation at OTMH, Tory also spoke up about the changes a PC government would make if in power in Ontario. "They (hospital staff) indicated to me today as we were visiting here that 50 of the 300 and some odd beds in this hospital are occupied by people that should be in long-term care. There are no long-term care spaces in town that are available, and there are none that are planned because the government made absolutely no provision for long-term care in its recent budget," said Tory. Tory noted the lack of long-term care spaces causes problems because the emergency rooms get jammed with people who do not really need to be there. He said such people are not receiving the kind of care they need because they are in a hospital and not long-term care. Finally, Tory said it is actually three times more expensive keeping someone in a hospital compared to long-term care. "There is no justification for letting this situation go on, and I assure you it's not just here. I've toured probably now 30 plus hospitals in Ontario and it's true at virtually every one," said Tory. Providing Ontarians with greater access to long-term care was not the only change proposed by Tory. During a speech in Hamilton earlier in the day, Tory outlined four key principles a PC government would use to improve healthcare services in Ontario. The first principle focused on improv- ing timely, universal access to healthcare services which ties in with what Tory talked about at OTMH. Eliminating wasteful spending and making significant, reliable, responsible and growing investments in healthcare spending made up the second principle. To this end, Tory says healthcare spending would increase to $8.5 billion annually by the fourth year of a PC government and would be done without relying on the Ontario Health Premium, which Tory says a PC government would eliminate. "That tax is dishonest. Dalton McGuinty looked every voter in the eye and swore he would not raise your taxes and turned around and did just that," said Tory during his Hamilton speech. "In spite of this brand new tax, most Ontarians would agree that healthcare is worse off today, not better, since the tax was introduced almost four years ago." Tory's third principle involves the constant search for ways to improve care. Tory sees no boundaries on this endeavour even looking to the private sector as a deliverer of healthcare. In the example provided to the audience of his Hamilton speech, Tory talked about a private clinic in Toronto that made an offer to help clear Ontario's backlog of knee replacement surgeries. Tory says the situation was winwin because the operations would be covered by OHIP so patients would not have to pay anything. The government would not lose money because the clinic offered to do the surgeries at a cost lower than that of a community hospital. "Dalton McGuinty said no. He said no because he has an ideological objection to the private sector delivering healthcare services. He said no because he put his party's interests ahead of patients," said Tory. "A John Tory PC government will work with innovators in the public and private sector to improve the healthcare system, reduce waiting lists and improve patient care." The final principle a PC government would use to improve healthcare services in Ontario is respect, which applies to both patients and healthcare providers. "It means having enough respect for nurses to provide for full-time positions for those who seek them within a reasonable period," he said. SERVICE EXCELLENCE DODGE RAM 1500 QUAD CAB AWARD WINNER ONTARIO'S #1 RANKED CHRYSLER DEALERSHIP JEEP PATRIOT DODGE CALIBER DODGE GRAND CARAVAN DODGE CHARGER DODGE NITRO JEEP COMPASS CHRYSLER SEBRING CONVERTIBLE E DORVAL DRIVE I THE LOCKWOOD REWARDS CARD INCLUDED WITH EVERY PURCHASE WYECROFT RD. 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