Kinew asks health-care workers to stay on the job Premier, health minister look to improve morale, culture By: Katie May and Danielle Da Silva Posted: 11:14 AM CDT Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023 Last Modified: 12:27 PM CDT Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023 Updates

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew appealed to health-care workers Tuesday, asking them to stay in their posts and give his government some time to rebuild the overwhelmed system.

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Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew appealed to health-care workers Tuesday, asking them to stay in their posts and give his government some time to rebuild the overwhelmed system.

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Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew appealed to health-care workers Tuesday, asking them to stay in their posts and give his government some time to rebuild the overwhelmed system.

“It is with the greatest humility that I would ask you to consider coming back to work on the front lines of our public health-care system,” Kinew said during a news conference at the Legislative Building.

”Along the way, I am also going to ask for some patience. The task before us of repairing the damage that has been caused to our health-care system is going to take years to accomplish. But we are resetting the relationship right now.”

He and Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara issued the open letter to health staff as one of their first acts in government. Kinew said respecting health-care workers is a “top priority.”

Premier Wab Kinew, right, with Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

“We need every nurse, every physician, every health-care professional, every health-care aide — we need you,” he said.

The premier didn’t announce a recruitment plan or any strategy to retain nurses and bring back those who’ve left for private nursing agency jobs or pursued other careers in search of a better work-life balance. He said more announcements are coming and said a “high-priority” area is staffing up emergency departments during this respiratory virus season.

Union leaders expressed hope after hearing Kinew’s message, while the Progressive Conservative opposition seized on its lack of specifics.

“Today’s comments from the premier were full of platitudes, but lacked any tangible action,” Tory health critic Kathleen Cook said in a statement. “So far, the NDP’s strategy as a government is focused solely on looking in the rearview mirror in an attempt to distract from the fact that they have no achievable plan to implement all their promises.”

“It is with the greatest humility that I would ask you to consider coming back to work on the front lines of our public health-care system.”–Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew

During the news conference, Kinew spoke directly to health-care professionals to ask they continue working in the system as the government musters the support and resources necessary to deliver “excellent patient care.” He said his government will hold health leaders accountable at a service-delivery level and will listen to front-line workers.

“The idea of retribution in health care for those who speak out from the front lines is now over,” he said.

Health-care union leaders are trying to schedule meetings with the new health minister. The presidents of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals and the Manitoba Nurses Union have each requested Asagwara’s ear.

“The new government promised to repair and rebuild health care for Manitobans. That’s a huge task and they will need health care workers onside. We believe they are serious about taking a more collaborative and respectful approach that puts the front line first. We look forward to meeting with Minister Asagwara very soon to begin that work together,” MAHCP president Jason Linklater said in a written statement.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said it’s fair and transparent for the government to ask for patience to deal with problems that didn’t pop up overnight.

“They talked about having respect for nurses, trying to manage the mandated overtime, as well as trying to give nurses back work-life balance. And I think those three things are going to be very, very important when we’re talking about bringing retired nurses back, when we’re talking about bringing nurses back (to) the public system,” Jackson said, adding she often hears from nurses who don’t feel valued by management at all, so for them, “respect is huge.”

The message to nurses was a first step, Kinew said. “Future steps” include staffing up hospitals, streamlining health-care bureaucracy and considering opportunities for consultation with front-line workers. The government’s plan to bolster staffing will start in “areas where we are seeing some absolutely critical needs,” including ERs, where wait times have reached record highs, he said.

Asagwara also appealed to health-care staff to “keep showing up.”

“We’re going to make your life better by changing the culture of health care, we’re going to hold management accountable to measurable improvements for morale and for patient care, we’re going to make sure that you get the respect and the credit you deserve for doing the work that you do,” the health minister said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca