Celebration of problem-plagued central home-care office irritates workers

Home-care workers are riled up by events to “celebrate” the anniversary of a centralized scheduling system that has been heavily criticized and caused hundreds of missed appointments when it was introduced one year ago.

Staff at the scheduling office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, told the Free Press that time spent planning the celebration and organizing silent auctions should have been used to work on the system that they say is still rife with problems.

“It’s insulting to expect people to celebrate a milestone that is nothing but a reminder of the level of trauma we have endured this past year,” one employee said, adding the switch from regional scheduling “has proven to be a disaster.”

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority centralized the scheduling system in March 2025 with the goal of improving communication, workload, and client support. Staff who had worked in offices in quadrants of the city relocated to 80 Sutherland Ave. The revamp followed a review into the 2023 death of Katherine Ellis, a cancer patient who died after being misclassified and denied timely home care. Centralized scheduling was one of 21 recommendations stemming from that review.

The overhaul drew heavy criticism from workers after thousands of client visits were missed during the switchover.

On March 27, workers’ names were drawn hourly for prizes as part of the anniversary festivities.

“Thank you everyone for your continued great work and your commitment to keep making improvements,” said the email that announced the celebration. “We are all one team and I am very proud to be part of this team.”

Staff said the items ranged from tomato plant seeds to Kleenex boxes, and bags of chips.

“It was like they went to Dollarama, up and down each aisle and just chose whatever and wrapped it,” the employee said.

Two workers said the celebration felt like a slap in the face amid their work challenges.

“It was like they went to Dollarama, up and down each aisle and just chose whatever and wrapped it.”

“Recent mass hiring of staff has increased bodies in seats, but the training is rushed and new hires are not being properly taught how to do their job, causing increased pressure and expectations on those who have stuck around in the job,” the employee said.

“Day-to-day operations are unorganized as management has not figured out the coverage numbers needed for each area so staff are getting shuffled each shift, sometimes multiple times.”

Jason Linklater, president of Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, which represents case co-ordinators in the centralized office, said little has changed.

“I’ll be blunt — and this is quoting from my members — the centralized scheduling office continues to be an absolute disaster,” he said. “They’re telling us there has been no meaningful improvement since it was implemented, and quite frankly at this point, they’re losing hope that it is doing to be addressed.”

Linklater said the focus should be on improving the system and not anniversary events.

Adrian Salonga, interim regional lead for community health services at WHRA, said it’s important to note that a small office celebration isn’t an either-or scenario.

“It’s both, all of the time. Everybody is focused on improving care,” he said. “The supervisor felt it was important to recognize, in the year, that there have been challenges, there’s been a lot of hard work, and we’re making improvements, thanks to the dedication, the patience, and the contributions of staff.”

The supervisor paid for the prizes, Salonga said.

In September, the province rolled back some measures, saying it had hired 32 new scheduling clerks since July. Workers were assigned a primary geographical area.

“I’ll be blunt … the centralized scheduling office continues to be an absolute disaster.”

“I think they’re all living in delusion because (the WRHA) keeps telling the government that everything’s fine and the government is saying, ‘Oh, it’s getting so much better,’” another employee said. “In reality, it’s not.”

Staff say training remains inadequate despite being extended by two weeks.

They say the focus has shifted to reducing the number of cancelled appointments, shortening wait times, and meeting quotas as quickly as possible, while frequent, poorly communicated policy changes have increased inconsistency and errors. Workers stress that effective scheduling depends on consistency and familiarity with clients, staff, and geography.

“The sizes of each area vary by thousands of client hours, the care levels also vary tremendously based on number of clients living at home versus number of those living in assisted-living buildings or complexes,” the employee said.

The employee added the system has become unsafe due to understaffing, rushed scheduling, missed breaks, and long hours, all of which have contributed to burnout.

Staff noted a rumoured visit from Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara never happened.

“We’re told by the government that this needs to work. It isn’t working. It’s time to call it a day on this and go back to how it was before,” the worker said.

Solanga said that changes to the scheduling system, especially since last September, have reduced vacant and cancellation rates for home care visits.

He said the changes are largely a result of implementing workers’ feedback. For example, new staff have been paired with mentors, and the office has been rearranged to make supervisors more accessible to staff. A committee made up of front-line workers, staff from the scheduling office and leadership meets bi-weekly.

“I don’t think you can ever communicate enough in an organization,” Solanga said, adding more changes are on the horizon this spring, including leadership members going into the field to hear from front-line staff.

Margaret Schroeder, president of CUPE Local 204, which represents schedulers, said the union has been pushing for improvements.

“They’ve hired people, they’ve changed the schedule for the schedulers — there was a lot of things they’ve done,” she said. “Have they completed the work? No. No, they haven’t. Is there a lot more that they can do? Most definitely.”

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara was unavailable Tuesday.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca