An Urgent Call On Ford Government to Deal with Medical Supplies Shortage for Front Line Health Workers

An Open Letter from Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch to Ford Heath Minister Syvlia Jones

Posted October 20^th, 2024 on Niagara At Large

Dear Minister Jones:

Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch

I had an urgent email from a Registered Nurse in Niagara, who pleaded for help and saying, “Our patients need help, and our hands are tied.”

This nurse must remain anonymous for the sake of her job but told me, along with her colleagues, they provide nursing care in homes and retirement homes all over Niagara.  Ontario Health at Home changed their medical supplies vendor from Calea to Bayshore.

Nurses are now scrambling to collect unused wound supplies from one home to use in another. There are horror stories of Nurses having to wrap patient’s wounds in towels. There is just nothing available to use.

My staff connected directly with CEO Stuart Cottrelle at Bayshore HealthCare, he said, “We are very focused on supporting patient care and that is our priority. We have experienced significant supply shortages at the start of this new process, and this has caused challenges with nurses having access to the supplies needed to provide quality care. We are all working together to resolve this as quickly as possible.”

And Cynthia Martineau, CEO of Ontario Health at Home told my office, “We are aware of the supply challenges, and we are meeting daily with our vendors and suppliers to discuss areas of concern related to stock levels and expected dates of delivery. We made good progress this week with stock levels improving steadily and expect to return to normal in the coming days. We continue to have ongoing daily meetings with our vendors and suppliers to review current status and work towards stabilizing our supplies and deliveries.”

These email responses were on October 9th and the RN who contacted me again, says nothing has improved. Action is needed now on this supply crisis impacting our front-line workers and patients.

Sincerely, Jeff Burch, MPP

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