Province spent nearly $20M on 224,000 hours of nurse OT over nine months: NDP

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This article was published 23/08/2023 (746 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Health Sciences Centre nurses worked more than 224,000 hours of overtime in nine months last spring and fall, according to documents obtained by the NDP and publicly released Wednesday.

The NDP said the Progressive Conservative government spent nearly $20 million on nurse overtime during the same time period, from September 2022 to May 2023.

NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara said under a New Democrat government, overtime would be reduced and nurses would have greater work-life balance.

The NDP previously introduced a bill to end the practice of mandatory overtime in hospitals, but it wasn’t supported by the government and didn’t pass into law. The party is no longer committing to end mandatory overtime, and hasn’t committed to re-introducing such legislation if elected.

“We will change the culture in health care. We will lead health care in a way that shows nurses we respect them, that works with them to create a better work-life balance, and that no longer treats nurses as though the expectation is that they’re going to give up their personal life and time with their families as a standard in order to work in the health-care system,” said Asagwara, MLA for Union Station.

Nurse overtime at HSC appears to be improving, according to figures provided by Shared Health.

“Nursing overtime for Shared Health, which includes HSC Winnipeg, improved from 26,762 hours in May 2022 to 21,755 hours in May 2023…. While this improvement is welcome, we are committed to ongoing efforts to reduce overtime in Manitoba’s health-care system,” a spokesperson stated, noting previously announced plans to establish a provincial float pool, recruit international nurses and other incentives.

Manitoba Nurses Union President Darlene Jackson said the HSC overtime figures aren’t surprising, but she said they raise questions about how effective the government’s incentives for nursing retention are.

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Heading into this election campaign, Jackson said she’d like to see candidates make a “real effort” on retention. She said many nurses are still waiting for their first payment from the provincial recruitment and retention fund that was expected June 1.

“We need a government that’s going to step up, going to make a promise and actually follow through with it, and do what needs to be done to retain nurses in this province,” she said.

Jackson said it’s not feasible right now to do away with mandated overtime, considering how much the health system relies on it.

“I would love nothing more than to see a government who actually comes up with a plan and works towards that goal, but the bottom line is, we are basically holding our health-care system together… on the backs of nurses, with overtime, both voluntary and mandatory, and with private-agency nurses,” she said. “And we need to come up with a concrete plan very quickly.”

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com

Katie May
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Katie May is a multimedia producer for the Free Press.

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