MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I get up today to present the remaining petitions I have on behalf of the people in the District of Twillingate-New World Island. These are with regard to the Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Speaker, the issue out in the hospital there was that there were five acute care beds that were redesignated as restorative care beds in their facility. There was a need for restorative care beds in this hospital but there was also a need for acute care beds. Government, as opposed to expanding the service, they cut out five of the acute care beds in this facility and they redesignated it to restorative care.

It is a little tricky, Mr. Speaker. It sounds good when you make an announcement and put out a press release, although the member said yesterday there was no release put out, but there was. When you put out a press release announcing that you are going to do this project to provide alternate care for people in the area, expand the service in the hospital, you would think that it is something new and that a cut is not being considered as part of this project.

Mr. Speaker, these people have petitioned the House of Assembly and I will read their petition for the record:

WHEREAS there were fifteen acute care beds in the Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital Health Centre; and

WHEREAS five of the acute care beds closed last summer and did not reopen in the fall; and

WHEREAS the availability of acute care beds is critical to the people of Twillingate-New World Island; and

WHEREAS the shortage of acute care beds is resulting in people being denied admittance to Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital Health Centre; and

WHEREAS the people of Twillingate-New World Island do not want to see their health care services cut;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to reinstate the five acute care beds in the Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital Health Centre.

Mr. Speaker, these petitions have come from communities all over that area because there are people all over the region who depend upon the service there. Just going through the petitions, they came from places like Herring Neck, Bay View, Durrell, Morton’s Harbour, Valley Pond, Bridgeport, Summerford, Virgin Arm, Cottlesville, Twillingate, Carter’s Cove, Too Good Arm, Crow Head – those were just some of the ones that I jotted down when I was going through this.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the member for the area said that we did not even propose any questions around this particular issue. We did, we actually wrote to the minister and to the regional health care authority. We wrote them back in February; I have the correspondence here. We asked them to clarify what was happening in this facility in Twillingate-New World Island, the health care facility. We did receive a letter back about six weeks later from the minister. We also received a letter a couple of weeks later from the CEO of the health corporation explaining what was happening here, and we did correspond with people in the member’s district who had called us about this. We gave them copies of those letters. We explained the situation and the responses we had gotten, and it was their decision, Mr. Speaker, to petition the government and ask the government to restore those beds in their health care facility. So whether the member for the area agrees with it or not, that is the story, that is how it unfolded, and that is the reason they are petitioning the House of Assembly today.