‘They want us to be delivery personnel’: home-care nurse

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This article was published 28/01/2025 (247 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A policy change to save on delivery charges and reduce waste is threatening nurses’ health and safety by requiring them to schlep medical supplies to home-care clients themselves, says a nurse.

“(Managers) just lectured us to not be walking with things in our hands because of the higher risk for falling, but now they want us to carry supplies into clients’ homes,” said the nurse who the Free Press agreed not to identify.

“Do you think people shovel their walks for us if there was a big blizzard overnight?”

On Jan. 15, several ACCESS clinics operated by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority adjusted how home-care clients receive supplies. Instead of getting the items shipped directly to homes, nurses must gather them at the beginning of their shift and take them to each home.

They must transport supplies such as insulin shots, as well as items for eye care and wound care. The nurse said they can freeze in sub-zero temperatures or are at risk of being stolen from vehicles when a nurse is in a home treating a client.

She said the change will force nurses to work longer hours.

“We are now getting up to eight-plus hours of work on our day. We are regularly missing meal breaks. We are regularly missing coffee breaks, and we are rushing around like chickens with our heads cut off.”

An email that was sent to River East ACCESS Clinic employees and obtained by the Free Press says the change was tested in other WRHA regions and is to “help reduce costs associated with the wastage and delivery of supplies.”

Since then, home-care supplies are available in supply closets while “high-cost” supplies require special access.

“Please ensure to take only the appropriate quantity for each client,” the email reads in bold.

The email says management will work with nurses and clients for whom required supplies are too much for nurses to reasonably transport.

A WRHA spokesperson said the home-care program is working to standardize the ordering and delivery processes of community home-care teams to “create consistency in operations, minimize waste, and ensure changing supply needs for clients are met.”

Supplies such as medical and surgical dressings can often only be ordered in large quantities and sometimes go to waste, the spokesperson said.

It’s estimated $100,000 worth of new medical supplies were discarded each month in the WRHA under the old delivery system, the spokesperson said.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said the cut is at the expense of nurses; she rejects the cost-saving rationale.

If nurses are over-ordering, the WRHA should discuss the issue with the employees in question before making sweeping changes, Jackson said.

“It is a workplace health and safety issue… but it’s also an issue of respecting that they are skilled and experienced and know exactly what needs to be done for the client,” she said. “I think it’s disrespectful.”

The nurse, who said she sees from 15 to 25 clients in one day, fears the new system will constrain her tight schedule if she were to miss a client’s supplies when loading up for the day.

“We are exhausted going to work. We are petrified we’re going to make mistakes or we’re going to miss something,” she said. “The home-care nurse wears many hats, and now they want us to be delivery personnel.”

On Monday, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara backed the change and said it would better prioritize home-care clients, move the service in a better direction and minimize supply waste.

“My understanding is that this is an approach that meets the needs of patients, and they’re working with nurses to make sure it’s delivered well,” the minister said.

While the change was implemented in the St. Vital area in 2022 and is already underway in all of the Southern Health region, Asagwara said the province will work with nurses and the union to address concerns that the change may have on day-to-day operations.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca