Premier Tim Houston continued his Speak Up for Health Care Tour today with stops on the South Shore and the Annapolis Valley.
With stops on the South Shore at Queens General and South Shore Regional Hospital, Houston was able to speak with hospital staff about how they are feeling and what they need.
He says with the whole provincial healthcare system in crisis, the concerns he heard today were similar to the ones he’s heard all over the province, “They are feeling overwhelmed and they’re feeling disrespected in many ways,” Houston said.
He says throughout the tour he’s heard stories of fatigue, being overworked, and an overall lack of support and resources.
Despite a big component of the tour being about listening that’s not all Houston wants it to be about. He says throughout conversations on the tour he’s been hearing great ideas to improve the situation and he wants his government to be action orientated.
“We’ve heard lots of short-term solutions that we plan to implement as soon as possible, then the medium-term and long-term ideas we can start working on implementing,” said Houston.
The new government is hopeful the tour will make healthcare workers feel like their concerns are being heard and dealt with. “We want to show them that they have an ally in our government, that we’re going to make the investments needed to support them,” Houston said.
Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Becky Druhan joined Premier Houston as he spoke with Health Care workers at South Shore Regional. Photo: Premiers Office.
One specific issue Houston touched on was the expansion of the ER at South Shore General which has been something promised to be completed by multiple governments as far back as the Dexter NDP era. With plans once again very far along for the ER, Houston says that his government is not interested in moving backward and they will be supportive in seeing that project complete.
After campaigning on health care, Houston says he feels a great sense of urgency to start dealing with the problems and he hopes that sense of urgency is being felt by the healthcare workers he’s spoken with and helps them believe impactful change is not far away.
