Call for investigation into Niagara superbug outbreak

A great letter in the Niagara newspapers from Pat Scholfield, a community health care activist in Welland.

On Sunday, July 10 I watched and listened to the news as once again we were told about the C. difficile problems in hospitals across Ontario and they told us the latest death toll across the entire province to date was 24. Our local papers report 20 people have died in Niagara Health System (NHS) hospitals in cases linked to C. difficile. The NHS has definitely more than its share of C. difficile deaths.

Then Ontario Minister of Health Deb Matthews came on the screen and with a sweet smile told us to wash our hands. Come on Minister Matthews, Niagara has a much more serious problem with C. difficile than washing our hands.

Is there a relationship between the serious C. difficile outbreak across Niagara and the implementation of the HIP (hospital improvement plan) by the NHS where huge cuts have been made to beds, frontline staff, cleaning staff, departments, ER closures and long, long ER wait times and paramedic offload delays and patients being shipped from one facility to the next? We need to find out. We need an investigation in Niagara and the NHS.

Pat Scholfield Welland

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