‘I am the minister of the art of the possible’: Gordon on Grace doctors’ plea for help

By: Danielle Da Silva Posted: 7:58 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 19, 2023

Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon says orthopedic surgeons at Grace Hospital are welcome in her office any time, after the doctors sent a desperate plea for help amid staff shortages and reduced surgical slates.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/04/2023 (872 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Wednesday, Gordon said she did in fact receive a letter from orthopedic surgeons at the west Winnipeg hospital in November — after casting doubt on the authenticity of the correspondence released by the NDP a day prior.

The minister said she responded to the letter but has yet to meet with the group.

Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon says orthopedic surgeons at Grace Hospital are welcome in her office any time, after the doctors sent a desperate plea for help amid staff shortages and reduced surgical slates. (Tim Smith / The Brandon Sun files)

“I encourage them to come forward if they would like to have a face-to-face discussion, I’m happy to hear from them. I am the minister of the art of the possible,” Gordon said.

The letter signed by 10 surgeons stated Grace was struggling to offer the basic standard of care, owing to a lack of staff, resulting in trauma patients waiting too long for treatment and non-urgent surgical patients experiencing significant delays and cancellations.

The doctors called for an immediate change in course, calling the situation dire, and asked Gordon to intervene amid a “presence of apathy and no demonstrable willingness for change.”

Attempts to address concerns with hospital administration, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Shared Health led nowhere, the doctors said, and a proposal to increase surgical capacity at Grace Hospital was rejected.

At the time, the province’s diagnostic and surgical recovery task force had not communicated with the surgical group nor assisted the program, the doctors wrote to the minister. Meanwhile, the hospital had reduced scheduled elective orthopedic surgeries by 20 per cent.

On Wednesday, Gordon said there needs to be a discussion about the surgeons’ concerns and she was disappointed to hear they felt unsupported by the task force.

The health minister said their proposal to increase surgical capacity at Grace Hospital is still under review, and she looks forward to a decision being made.

Meanwhile, the task force is discussing extending orthopedic surgical hours to evenings, weekends and holidays, and conversations regarding weekend premiums are ongoing.

During question period Wednesday, Premier Heather Stefanson also announced an expansion to the orthopedic day surgery program at Grace Hospital.

The premier said 200 additional joint cases could be offered at the hospital, but did not provide a time frame.

“A proposal was received by the surgical and diagnostic task force from Grace Hospital to perform 200 more hip and knee surgeries,” Stefanson said. “That proposal has been accepted and those surgeries will take place.”

The WRHA did not comment when asked about the new initiative Wednesday.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca