Kinew blasts physio outpatient closures

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This article was published 08/11/2017 (3125 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew took aim at the impending closure of the majority of Winnipeg’s public outpatient physiotherapy services Wednesday, charging the Conservative government with making the decision “simply for ideological reasons.”

“There is no research, no evidence, no savings for these cuts,” Kinew said in question period before asking the premier — who was not present in the house — whether he would reverse the cuts.

Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said the plan would proceed.

“There continues to be significant pre-op physiotherapy, there will continue to be significant post-op therapy, and for those who need it on a clinical basis, they can still apply for outpatient physiotherapy,” Goertzen said.

Nov. 24 is the last day for outpatient physiotherapy services at Concordia Hospital, Deer Lodge Centre, Grace Hospital, Misericordia Health Centre, St. Boniface Hospital, Seven Oaks General Hospital and Victoria General Hospital.

Much smaller, consolidated services are expected to launch Nov. 27 at Health Sciences Centre, where select patients who meet new clinical criteria will be able to access those services. Those who qualify will be people who’ve undergone tendon transfers, repairs or reconstructions; ligament transfers, repairs or reconstructions; and periarticular fractures, among a list of other conditions.

Flo Olson, an 80-year-old joint surgery veteran, says the list of conditions covered is inadequate, and she’s convinced the decision to axe most of the outpatient services will “come back to hit the government.”

Olson, moving slowly with a walker as she recuperates from her fifth hip surgery, said outpatient care is crucial in ensuring patients do the exercises required of them in order to keep living independently after surgery.

“This last session in hospital,” she said, “I was able to observe a lot of people who think they’re going to get home to independent living who simply can’t, they just don’t understand how important the therapy is.”

Olson, who received outpatient physiotherapy at Concordia, said she knows many who don’t meet the clinical criteria won’t be able to afford private physiotherapy. After all, she noted, she spent several months in physiotherapy, which would be far from inexpensive.

By axing the majority of the program, Kinew said Manitoba will become the only province to not offer such services to patients.

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“The premier needs to reverse course,” he said.

Patients such as Olson, who undergo hip replacements, meet with multidisciplinary teams better suited than politicians to decide what type of care and service they need, Goertzen said, repeating inpatient physiotherapy is still being offered to patients before and after surgery.

A spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said physiotherapists will continue to work closely with patients, including those who have hip or knee surgeries.

“Before a return home, inpatient physiotherapists will provide patients with a specific home-exercise program and self-management strategies,” she said.

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca