‘This situation could lead to unnecessary delays in diagnosis and treatment, ultimately jeopardizing patient health outcomes,’ the NDP MPPs from Sudbury and Nickel Belt argue in letter to Health Minister Sylvia Jones
As MPPs for the ridings of Sudbury and Nickel Belt, we are writing to you today urging you to take action and keep Sudbury’s LifeLabs laboratory open.
This testing facility plays an essential role in Northern Ontario’s health-care system. Minister, you know how important lab work is to get different health issues diagnosed, a treatment plan in place, monitor chronic illness or treat acute diseases and more. The closure of this laboratory will affect thousands of people across Northern Ontario, as the lab provides analysis for constituents in Sudbury, Nickel Belt, North Bay, Timmins and many rural communities.
Furthermore, the shutdown of this laboratory will significantly prolong the time required for individuals and their primary care providers to receive essential lab results. With frequent highway closures during the harsh Northern Ontario winters, there is a real risk that samples could become unusable, necessitating retesting.
This situation could lead to unnecessary delays in diagnosis and treatment, ultimately jeopardizing patient health outcomes. Prolonged wait times might also render test results unreliable, inaccurate or unattainable, posing the danger of serious infections being overlooked or nonexistent disorders being misdiagnosed.
This puts Northerners’ health and lives at risk.
We have heard from numerous constituents who are profoundly concerned about this impending closure. They are worried that they will have to redo bloodwork if something goes wrong, such as lost samples or or the sample ages-out due to a highway closure. This includes a soon-to-be mother awaiting crucial blood work during her pregnancy, an individual battling a rare disease, and many older adults managing high blood pressure — each of whom would be adversely affected by this unnecessary closure.
As you know minister, in 2024 LifeLabs, the biggest community lab provider in Ontario, was bought by a U.S.-based company, called Quest Diagnostics. We brought up our concerns about this situation at Queen’s Park. We would appreciate if you could look at the impact this laboratory services closure will have on our health-care system as well as the confidence Northerners will have in our health-care system.
Having to take time-off multiple times to give a lab sample does not build confidence.
In Northern Ontario, we know that the decision to close the lab was solely made for profit reasons. To increase their profit, the company is laying off medical technologists and sending the work to Toronto.
How is this helping the people of Northern Ontario? It’s not — these are the issues we face when our health care is privatized. Not only are 40 medical laboratory technologists losing their jobs, but the increased risks associated with this move can damage an already strained health-care system and reduce our local health care capacity.
The Ministry of Health’s mandate is “Connecting Ontarians to the health care they need, when and where they need it — in their community, closer to home”, yet these medical tests are now being sent hours away from our community. Putting profit over people is completely unacceptable.
We urge you to consider the profound implications that the closure of Sudbury’s LifeLabs will have on the health and well-being of your constituents. We ask that you take immediate action to ensure this essential facility remains open.
Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. We look forward to your response and hope for a timely resolution.
France Gélinas
Nickel Belt MPP
Jamie West
Sudbury MPP