‘Frustrated’ Selkirk nurses plead for help

The province must take immediate action to increase low staffing levels that are putting Selkirk emergency room nurses at risk, a letter sent to the premier and health minister says.

The letter, sent by the Manitoba Nurses Union and signed by 35 ER nurses, detailed multiple recent incidents at the Selkirk Regional Health Centre. In one case, a nurse was stabbed with a pen by a patient who had been waiting 24 hours for care. In another case, a nurse was bitten by a patient.

“Nurses in that emergency department are extremely frustrated,” said Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson. “This is not something that happened in the last month — or overnight — these are problems that have been growing.”

The five-page letter was sent Tuesday to Premier Wab Kinew, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara and leaders of the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority. It contained 10 requests to improve safety inside the emergency department, including establishing safer nurse-to-patient staffing levels, eliminating the practice of “single physician coverage” in the emergency department and implementing an institutional safety officer around the clock.

The union also stressed the need for an additional secure room for patients who pose a risk and more robust mental health supports on site.

The hospital cares for more than 26,500 patients from across the region on an annual basis, the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority said in 2023.

The letter said nurses care for an “overwhelming” number of patients on many shifts with insufficient resources.

It detailed a two-day period in early July where one doctor was responsible for 47 patients at one time, with wait times reaching approximately 23 hours.

“If someone comes in with a mental-health difficulty and are sitting in an emergency department for 15 hours … in that situation, you will see patients start to act out,” she said, calling the compounding of a crisis with a long wait, “a disaster looking for a place to happen.”

The province announced Tuesday more than 1,400 nurses have been added to the system since 2023, a figure Jackson said she didn’t believe.

The Selkirk nurses aren’t the only ones to raise concerns about staffing levels this month.

Earlier in August, nurses at the Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach requested an extra triage nurse to help address high patient volume.

Asagwara said in a statement Wednesday the province is listening to the concerns of nurses, stressing health-care workers deserve to be safe at work.

“I was at Selkirk Regional Health Centre yesterday, where I had the opportunity to hear directly from front-line health-care workers about the pressures they are facing and the work underway to support patients and staff,” said Asagwara.

“I take the concerns raised by nurses very seriously, particularly incidents of violence against staff and the pressures in the emergency department.”

The minister said Manitoba Health will continue to work with the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority to “address these concerns and strengthen safety, security and emergency care in Selkirk.”

morgan.modjeski@freepress.mb.ca