CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There is new data on wait times at the VA Medical Center in Salisbury. The facility has faced backlash for how it treats patients in the past.
This new report took a closer look at 12 VA medical centers in North Carolina and Virginia, and found that most new patients waited longer than 30 days for care. The average wait time was 59 days.
Numbers for the VA in Salisbury showed that the longest wait times were for those veterans in need of specialty care or mental-health care.
"It's our government's responsibility to make sure something is done to help these people,” said Vietnam veteran Sheldon Lubin.
The report also said the wait times it recorded are significantly higher than the wait time data recorded by the facilities and that led to a significant number of veterans not being eligible for treatment through the Veterans Choice Program.
That’s a program allowing veterans who face long wait times to be treated outside the VA system.
Congressman Richard Hudson said Friday that the report shows an “absolute fiasco and our veterans deserve better.”
Sen. Richard Burr said it is “unacceptable that that scheduling system doesn’t provide accurate information on wait times.”
Salisbury’s VA Medical Center officials declined to talk on camera, but seemed to be OK with some of the individual findings at its hospital.
They said the results validated that new patients in Salisbury, on average, are seen within 30 days or less.
Officials with the Inspector General said they asked the director of VA centers in our area to make six changes to improve veteran care.
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