Manitoba puts money on table for nursing seats

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/12/2021 (1391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province is rolling out $19.5 million this year for 259 of the 400 additional nursing education seats announced in the summer.

Premier Heather Stefanson, Advanced Education Minister Wayne Ewasko and Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced the expansion Wednesday as the province grapples with a large nursing shortage amid rising COVID-19 cases and ICU hospitalizations.

It’s not a new challenge, Ewasko said at a news conference at Université de Saint-Boniface.

“As we all know, for over 20 years we’ve had some difficulty recruiting and retaining nurses,” he said.

Training more nurses won’t address the current shortage, said NDP Leader Wab Kinew.

“When the government is talking about nurse education, that’s help for the health care system that’s four years away,” he said.

“We still need to see an urgent plan — an all-hands-on-deck approach — to addressing the health care crisis Manitoba is reeling from at this very moment. Given the urgency of the situation, we’ve got to call in the military over and above the federal request.”

On the weekend, the province asked the federal government to send 15 to 30 ICU nurses to Manitoba to help out for six weeks.

The province has more than 1,200 internationally educated nurses whose applications are working their way through the licensure system right now, and 75 third- and fourth-year nursing students have applied to work as they learn “so they can hit the ground running,” Gordon told reporters.

In spite of the Manitoba Nurses Union reporting that nurses are overworked, burned out and leaving the profession, Gordon remains optimistic.

Many nurses have stayed and joined the system in the last two years, including her friends, she said.

The province is offering incentives and has negotiated a collective agreement with nurses, Gordon said.

Université de Saint-Boniface will add 15 combined bachelor of nursing and licensed practical nursing seats. Assiniboine Community College in Portage la Prairie and rural rotating sites will have 55 licensed practical nursing seats added.

Brandon University will have 32 additional registered nursing and registered psychiatric nursing seats and the University of Manitoba will get 120 registered nursing seats. The officials said the expansion will begin this year but each post-secondary institution needs “to finalize specific details.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca