Patients in Morden-Winkler area at risk as exhausted nurses reach ‘breaking point, hospital worker says By: Chris Kitching Posted: 5:43 PM CST Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024

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This article was published 27/02/2024 (592 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A critical nursing shortage at one of Manitoba’s biggest regional hospitals is putting patient safety at risk and is likely to get worse, an employee told the Free Press Tuesday.

Internal documents show in-patient and emergency nursing vacancies at Boundary Trails Health Centre recently climbed to 52 per cent, forcing administrators to consider merging units and closing some beds.

“How did our facility let it get this bad? That’s the biggest question people have,” said the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “I’ve never seen the morale so low at Boundary Trails.

“This has been coming for a very long time, and they (administrators) have no plan in place.”

The employee said a lot of nurses are exhausted and at a “breaking point.” They said units are understaffed and nurses are overworked, while doing the best they can to care for patients who have more complex needs than those of the past.

The health-care worker said Boundary Trails, located between Winkler and Morden, has for years struggled to fill vacancies after nurses quit or retire.

“I’ve never seen the morale so low at Boundary Trails.”

They believe the turnover and recruiting struggles are tied to a toxic workplace culture.

“It’s such a negative atmosphere that it’s hard to get through a shift,” the staffer said. “It’s hard to recruit people to go into nursing when it’s so negative right now.

“It’s going to take a number of years to rebuild the nursing component and stabilize staffing.”

While health-care facilities across Manitoba are plagued by physician and nurse shortages, Boundary Trails is considering combining its medical and rehabilitation/surgical units to be able to cover all nursing shifts and reduce overtime.

The employee said some beds on the rehab unit will close if the units are consolidated.

The nurse-to-patient ratio is high on the medical ward, said the worker, who believes more nurses will leave if schedules, rotations or seniority are disrupted by the amalgamation of wards.

“It’s the uncertainty that has people stressed,” they said.

The hospital held a virtual town hall last Wednesday to consult nurses.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said the labour organization was informed Monday that Boundary Trails is considering the feedback before making a decision.

She believes administrators are making a sincere effort to listen to nurses.

“They are definitely looking at collaborating, and I think that’s important,” said Jackson, who previously described the vacancy rate as appalling and unsustainable.

The MNU wants the Manitoba government and health authorities to make retention the top priority in efforts to ease long-standing shortages.

“It’s going to take a number of years to rebuild the nursing component and stabilize staffing.”

The employee said Boundary Trails nurses do not feel supported or respected, and they’re tired of mandated overtime and having a poor work-life balance.

Some are forced to cover vacancies in other units.

“It puts nursing licences on the line,” said the employee.

Some nurses have gone on stress leave or stopped volunteering for extra shifts. Some have quit or switched to casual work.

The employee said 16-hour shifts are common, especially on weekends. They said “SOS” alerts that ask nurses to pick up shifts are frequent at the hospital, which is run by Southern Health.

A document obtained by the Free Press said the hospital is trying to recruit nurses from a provincial float pool, looking at hiring agency nurses and asking staff at other Southern Health facilities to be temporarily reassigned.

The employee said there is no quick fix, and using float pool and agency nurses is not the solution to the shortage.

They said there is no incentive for staff nurses when they’re working alongside agency nurses who are paid more per hour.

Boundary Trails, which is undergoing an expansion, and other health-care sites are under pressure in the growing Winkler-Morden area.

The employee said patients come to the emergency room with non-emergent issues, such as a sore throat, because they don’t have a family physician or there aren’t enough walk-in clinics in the area.

Southern Health did not provide a comment by deadline Tuesday.

Jackson blamed a lack of foresight and planning by governments and employers for nursing shortages in Manitoba.

As of June, Manitoba had 2,843 nursing vacancies, according to data compiled by MNU.

The union cited situations where a single nurse was expected to care for five to seven or, in some cases, 30 patients.

Manitoba had 132 nurses per 10,000 residents in 2021, according to the latest Canadian Institute for Health Information data.

The figure represented all regulated nurses, including nurse practitioners, registered nurses, psychiatric nurses and licensed practical nurses.

Regionally, every health authority in Manitoba recorded a slight decline in 2021 compared with 2017. In Southern Health, the per capita rate dipped from 110 to 103.

Last week, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the province was in regular contact with Southern Health about Boundary Trails’ staffing situation.

The NDP government, which campaigned on health-care reform after eight years of Progressive Conservative rule, has set goals of hiring 300 more nurses and improving workplace culture.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca