![](\"https:\/\/communities-wcmimages-cache.prod.postmedia.digital\/images?url=https:\/\/postmediatorontosun.files.wordpress.com\/2019\/01\/queensway_carleton_hospital_53803661-e1548941335804.jpg&w=840&h=671\")
<\/p>\n(July 15, 2019)<\/p>\n
By: Antonella Artuso, The Kingston Whig-Standard<\/p>\n
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Patients wait in the hallway at the overcrowded Queensway-Carleton Hospital in Ottawa in 2016. (Errol McGihon\/Postmedia)<\/span>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott is hedging on Premier Doug Ford\u2019s promise to end hallway medicine within a year.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the premier was expressing the wishes that we all have \u2014 that we all want hallway medicine ended today,\u201d Elliott said Monday. \u201cBut the reality is that can\u2019t happen yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Eliminating hallway medicine \u2014 the practice of caring for patients in hallways while waiting for a bed to open in a hospital unit \u2014 was a key election promise for Ford.<\/p>\n Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Long Term Care in Ottawa on March 8, 2019. Errol McGihon\/Postmedia<\/em><\/p>\n Last week, he raised eyebrows by saying that over the next year, the province would no longer have patients waiting in hospital hallways.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re working on it,\u201d Elliott said. \u201d I can\u2019t put a specific timeline on it, but we are working as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the solutions involve creating more capacity in the long-term care sector for patients who do not need to be in hospital, and better managing patients with chronic conditions in the community, she said.<\/p>\n Addressing the health-care needs of patients with mental illness and addictions is another priority, easing the pressure on emergency rooms, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it\u2019s improving the flow in the hospital \u2014 that\u2019s one way to do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The health minister added she and Ford are in constant communication and he\u2019s aware of the steps needed to help end hallway medicine.<\/p>\n The union representing health-care staff said the government has not committed enough funding to address capacity issues in both the hospital and long-term care sectors, failing to prepare as the large baby boomer generation ages.<\/p>\n \u201cThe premier said last week there were 1,000 people on stretchers in hallways,\u201d OCHU\/CUPE President Michael Hurley said. \u201cWell, wouldn\u2019t you expect to plan to open 1,000 beds? We\u2019re way, way short relative to everybody else in terms of beds.\u201d<\/p>\n Funding for health care in the Ford government\u2019s 2019 budget and into the future won\u2019t meet the inflationary pressures caused by an ageing and increasing population, he said.<\/p>\n Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) Director Natalie Mehra said hospitals are already cancelling operating room days and surgeries to save costs.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who are waiting in hallways are waiting for admission to chronic care beds or acute care hospital beds. They\u2019re waiting for surgeries. They\u2019re waiting for diagnostic tests,\u201d Mehra said.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/postmediatorontosun.files.wordpress.com\/2019\/04\/20190308_020_70004110-e1555596295983.jpg?quality=60&strip=all&w=640&strip=all\")
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