No hospital in Ontario has been chronically overcrowded for as long as University Hospital in London, the provincial New Democrats charged Thursday.

Acute and psychiatric wards in London hospitals have been over-capacity for 2 1/2 years.

“London patients and families have been dealing with overcrowding longer than anyone else in Ontario, yet the Liberals refuse to even admit that hospital overcrowding is a problem,” said London-Fanshawe NDP MPP Teresa Armstrong.

“While Londoners are finding no room in their hospital, and patients are sleeping on floors in the ER, the Liberals keep cutting hospital services, laying off health care workers, and closing beds. It’s clear that health care is the silent crisis of the (Kathleen) Wynne government.”

The Free Press has chronicled overcrowded wards from the get-go, showing how some patients waited a week or more for a staffed bed on a ward, the waits creating massive backups in the city’s emergency rooms.

Data obtained by the NDP show chronic overcrowding at University Hospital but most results from Victoria Hospital are blank. Only Vic’s psychiatric ward shows occupancy rates.

“Premier Wynne and Deputy Premier Deb Matthews have long known about this problem in London and should have tackled it by protecting hospital services. Instead, (Matthews) refuses to acknowledge Liberal cuts to hospital budgets even while frontline health-care workers are laid off and hospitals are closing beds,” said London West NDP MPP Peggy Sattler.

The Liberals froze hospital base operating budgets for four straight years, and since the 2016 Budget was released, Ontario hospitals had new rounds of cuts and bed closures, the NDP said.

London Health Sciences Centre stated that this year “marks the fifth consecutive year that funding does not offset inflationary pressures,” and said it would reduce staff hours by 64.5 full-time positions.

Asked about the NDP’s claims, Health Minister Eric Hoskins issued a statement, saying his government gave an extra $345 million for hospitals this year and had made smart investments so more people can be treated at home and in communities, while those who need a hospital are managed more efficiently.

“These investments help keep patients in their homes for as long as possible — where they want to be — and out of more costly hospitals and long-term care homes,” Hoskins wrote. “The Institute of Clinical Evaluative Studies has found that changes we have made have led to an increase in the number of patients treated, (and) reduced average length of stay for surgical and medical admissions.”

International standards call for hospitals to target occupying 85 per cent of beds so they can safely handle surges of patients. In London, officials target 95 per cent occupancy but instead have been consistently at over 100 per cent capacity.

jsher@postmedia.com

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