Despite opening to much fanfare earlier this year, problems of overcrowding and understaffing persist at the new hospital in Corner Brook, according to the PCs.

The Western Memorial Regional Hospital officially opened its doors on June 2.

PC leader Tony Wakeham says images and stories of patients waiting on stretchers out in hallways are already starting to come out.

“Did they build it big enough?” asks Wakeham. He says there’s an expectation that a new facility will be able to accommodate the needs of the region, “and clearly it’s not able to do that.”

Wakeham also accuses government of making promises to provide services, and failing to deliver.

He says a radiation oncologist has not been hired yet, despite all of the equipment being on site and ready to go. Wakeham says construction of the hospital began five years ago, and the recruitment process should have began at the same time.

NL Health Services Issues Response

In a statement to VOCM News, the health authority says the number of inpatient medical/surgical beds is the same as the old hospital. However, some programs have beds allocated differently at the new hospital. For example, maternal newborn and pediatrics are now combined into a maternal child unit

As well, when the Western Long Term Care Home opened in 2020, palliative care and adult rehabilitation moved to the new facility.

They say that created empty patient care areas that could be used for overflow or emergencies, which accounts for what they call “the perceived difference in the number of beds within the new facility.”

NLHS also outlines their “home first” policy, and other patient flow initiatives that are in place to help reduce the demand for inpatient stays.

On the topic of cancer care, they note there are two full-time general practitioners in oncology at the site. While they work towards the expansion of radiotherapy services and recruitment, they have started performing CT simulation scans for radiation treatment planning for limited sites.