Concordia reopening promise includes ‘centre of excellence’: NDP

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This article was published 31/08/2023 (781 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba NDP is promising to add six post-op step-down units and create a “centre of excellence” for hip and knee replacements and other joint surgeries, as part of its plan to reopen the Concordia Hospital ER.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew made the election pre-campaign pledge Thursday afternoon in Winnipeg.

Kinew suggested the timing of the proposed ER reopening is dependent on recruitment efforts to hire additional nurses, but said the party would take “immediate” steps to improve surgical capacity at Concordia by setting up six beds for post-op step-down units.

The step-down units would be set up within six months of the NDP forming government, if elected Oct. 3.

“What the PCs have never addressed is the fact that when they closed the ER here (in June 2018), they took away a nationally renowned surgical team’s ability to do more types of joint surgeries, and more complex joint surgeries. And unless we give those tools back to the surgeons, we’re always going to be waiting longer and longer, like we have under the PCs,” Kinew said.

The NDP has repeatedly criticized the Tory government’s use of private clinics to cut into the provincial surgery backlog.

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Asked whether Manitobans would still be sent out of province for select surgery under an NDP government, Kinew said he’s focused on the public system. He didn’t commit to disbanding the task force that has been contracting out-of-province surgery agreements to allow Manitobans to get hip and knee replacements in the U.S. or elsewhere in Canada.

“In terms of the task force, we’ll keep an open mind about working with them, but I think Manitobans know that we’re not making progress quickly enough,” Kinew said, saying increasing staffing is the answer to cutting health-care wait lists.

In June, a new, fifth operating room opened at Concordia, and was expected to add capacity for an additional 1,000 annual knee and hip replacements, Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced at the time.

“Wab Kinew voted against a new operating room for Concordia Hospital. He voted against every measure we’ve taken to heal our health-care system and get Manitobans the care they need,” Progressive Conservative party spokesman Shannon Martin stated Thursday in response to the NDP announcement.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com

Katie May
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Katie May is a multimedia producer for the Free Press.

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