Statement from Health Critic Kathleen Cook on Preventable Home-Care Chaos
WINNIPEG — Roblin MLA Kathleen Cook, PC Critic for Health, released the following statement today on the worsening disorder at Winnipeg’s centralized home-care office:
“Thousands of Winnipeg home-care clients will be going without essential home-care services this weekend.
“This disruption is the direct result of the NDP’s decision to centralize home-care scheduling services at an office in downtown Winnipeg, despite repeated warnings from front-line staff that this would result in missed visits and cancellations.
“When I raised this very concern in the Legislature back in March—after having met with some of the workers—health minister Uzoma Asagwara told me that I was ‘wrong’ and ‘fearmonger[ing]’. They assured Manitobans that all of the issues had been ‘resolved’.
“Only the minister knows whether they were simply mistaken or deliberately misleading to save face. But what Manitobans know for sure is that their loved ones who rely on home care—and the workers who provide that care—are paying the price.
“If this egregious mismanagement is what Wab Kinew means when he says he’s ‘fixing’ healthcare, that is absolutely unacceptable.
“It’s time for the NDP to take responsibility for their irresponsible decisions. Minister Asagwara must reverse these changes and fix the chaos they’ve created immediately.”
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