Nurses union sounds alarm over loss of ICU beds

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This article was published 22/01/2019 (2544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg hospitals have shuttered four intensive care unit beds since the Tory government began its recent overhaul of the health-care system, and there are plans to scrap six more as the health authority pivots to the use of “high-observation beds.”

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson sounded the alarm about the ICU bed closures in an interview Tuesday.

She said Concordia Hospital and Seven Oaks General Hospital each lost two ICU beds since Phase 1 of the provincial government’s health-care changes, rolled out in October 2017. She blamed the closures on nursing staff shortages.

“The bottom line for patient care is that those are four beds that are no longer open, that decreases access for Manitobans to critical care beds,” Jackson said.

“Overtime is up at Seven Oaks and Concordia just to keep the ICU beds open that they still have open. And we’re concerned, because it suggests that the WRHA and the Pallister government didn’t have a plan to address any of this.”

A Winnipeg Regional Health Authority spokesperson refuted the assertion in an emailed statement, noting the reduction in ICU beds is “deliberate and entirely by design.”

“In fact, by the fall of 2019, when the implementation of consolidation activities is completed, there will be 10 fewer adult ICU beds system-wide within the Winnipeg region, but 15 additional high-observation beds, as we shift our model of care based on the recommendations of clinical professionals,” the spokesperson said.

There will be 63 adult ICU beds system-wide, down from 73, and that’s not including beds at the Children’s Hospital nor the 14 cardiac ICU beds at St. Boniface Hospital, the WRHA said.

The spokesperson said the shift to include 15 more high-observation beds at Health Sciences Centre and St. Boniface will better match staffing capacity and patient needs. The new additions bring the high-observation bed total up to 21 from six across the region.

Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen largely echoed the WRHA, noting a need to match system staffing with patient demand.

“While there will always be issues to address in health care, reduced emergency wait times, a historic low in personal care home waits, a 30-week reduction in the amount of time people wait for MRIs, and new investments in hip and knee replacements and cataract surgeries all point to a plan that is working for Manitobans,” he said in a prepared statement.

Two more emergency department closures previously announced by the province are set to take effect this year, as Concordia’s emergency department is scheduled to close in June and the Seven Oaks ER is shuttered in September.

Repositioning all the intensive care units in three main hospitals — Grace, St. Boniface and HSC — will help with staffing issues, the WRHA spokesperson said.

“Consolidating the ICUs will help us concentrate these specialized life-saving services and expertise at Winnipeg’s three acute care hospitals, with a larger pool of trained professionals at each site, rather than spreading them too thin across six sites, as had been done historically.”

Jackson also suggested there wasn’t a full ICU training class of nurses recruited by the WRHA this year, which may lead to further problems down the line.

The WRHA countered it has 27 ICU nurses graduating in February, which is “more than the average cohort,” though it couldn’t immediately confirm how many an average cohort includes.

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbu