Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky wants answers after hearing 89 beds at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare remain empty because the hospital does not have the money to operate them.
Gretzky put pressure on the Wynne government in the legislature for a funding commitment to open those beds to patients, and said dozens of beds sit empty while seniors are in need of mental health treatment.
"Decades of cuts and stagnant funding by this Liberal government have pushed our mental health system into a crisis," she told the legislature. "Windsor's seniors are waiting months for mental health services, and many with specialized mental health needs, like dementia, are being placed in acute care because there is nowhere else for them to go."
With financial support from the province, Gretzky said Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare could use the additional beds for a geriatric transition unit that would help seniors across the region with complex needs.
"Seniors have worked their entire lives to better this province and should get mental health services when they need them," she said. "We need to do more than tinker with the same broken, same underfunded system."
The New Democrats, of which Gretzky is a member of, have proposed a new Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction Services if they are elected in June.