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Hotel-Dieu Grace has not received operating funds to open the beds in its new geriatric transition unit that would handle patients with complex mental health needs, including dementia.

“It’s shocking when you think about the stress that our hospitals are under,” Horwath said. “Windsor families are struggling with a mental-health system that is in crisis and these beds could alleviate that pressure as well. But Kathleen Wynne is letting these beds remain closed.”

Gretzky said she and Natyshak toured Hotel-Dieu Grace’s new turn-key-ready unit recently. She estimated $6 million to $8 million in operational funding is needed. A second wing is under renovation.

“The importance of having these beds open is that we’re finding people (with mental health concerns) are going to (Windsor Regional Hospital) sitting in an emergency room waiting to be seen,” Gretzky said. “Often they’re seen by a medical residency student and then sent home and then they go back (to the ER) at another time or they’re getting put in acute-care beds.”

Many seniors end up staying in acute-care beds because long-term beds are unavailable. Horwath said more than 32,000 people are on wait lists across the province.

“It’s shameful that after 15 years we still have such a shortage in long-term care beds,” she said, adding for those in long-term facilities, “We have a standard of care that is not meeting people’s expectations.”

She said the NDP has committed to a full public inquiry into long-term care and will take a find-and-fix approach.