Two local NDP MPP's say the waitlist for these beds continues to grow

It's a problem that doesn't seem to be going away.

As of November 2019, 848 people in Waterloo are stuck on a wait list for long-term care. In Kitchener, that number is 1,931.

Catherine Fife, NDP MPP for Waterloo, said in a release the need for investment in the long-term care sector has never been more glaring.

"To be clear, long-term care has been neglected for years. Very few beds have been developed and funded. It takes a long time to build a long-term care bed as well," she said.

Fife goes on to say we have a crisis in our health care system.

"Grand River Hospital earlier this week put out a notice saying, 'please don't come to the emergency room,'" Fife pointed out, "I mean, that's the first time I've ever heard of that happening, and that's before flu season."

She says because so many people have been left on waitlists, a number of them in hospital beds, the hallway medicine crisis is not slowing down.

NDP MPP for Kitchener-Centre, Laura Mae Lindo, says since Doug Ford came to power, Ontario's provincial wait-list for long-term care has grown by 3,371 people.

She also says, Ford plans to slash $34-million dollars from long-term care homes this year, meaning fewer staff and less money to upkeep facilities.