Whereas it has been reported that on February 7, 2024, 16-year-old Finlay van der Werken from Burlington waited more than eight hours in the emergency department at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital without being seen by an emergency physician and subsequently died on February 9, 2024;
And whereas reports indicate Finlay was triaged as Priority Level 2 under the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale, which requires physician assessment within 15 minutes for that level of acuity;
And whereas the van der Werken family has launched Finlay’s Voice, a public campaign advocating reforms for emergency care for pediatric patients, including a petition proposing Finlay’s Law to set maximum ER wait times for children, require safe pediatric staffing ratios, mandate independent reviews of pediatric ER deaths, and fund enhanced pediatric emergency readiness;
And whereas the Provincial Government has taken steps to improve health care in Ontario, however additional funding, staffing and changes to ER wait times are needed to reduce emergency department wait times and ensure timely and safe care for children;
Now therefore be it resolved that Council calls on the Provincial Government to enact legislation known as Finlay’s Law to:
- Establish legal maximum wait time standards for patients under 18 (i.e. physician assessment within 2 hours, admission within 8 hours);
- Require safe pediatric nurse-to-patient and physician-to-patient ratios in emergency settings;
- Create an independent oversight body with authority to audit hospitals emergency departments, investigate pediatric deaths that occur in ER waiting areas, and enforce compliance;
- Mandate timely public, independent reviews of every pediatric death in an ER waiting area or while awaiting assessment; and
- Provide dedicated provincial funding to improve pediatric emergency readiness, including staffing, training, and pediatric equipment;
And that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Premier of Ontario, the Ontario Minister of Health, the Chair of the Board of Directors of Windsor Regional Hospital and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, local MPPs, and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.