Provincial NDP leader Jim Dinn says the issues surrounding internal medicine at St. Clare’s hospital in St. John’s stem from a lack of action on the social determinants of health.

Dinn received a letter outlining as such while he was attending a news conference by health minister Krista Lynn Howell yesterday.

The party leader quotes a section of the letter which says that a lack of stable housing is contributing to the prevalence of chronic conditions, and thus the emergency department’s ability to help people that come in.

“It’s overwhelming them,” says Dinn, who believes the letter points to a correlation between action on the social determinants of health and the impact on frontline health care workers.