Nurses overwhelmingly vote to grey-list St. Boniface Hospital over safety concerns

Nurses at Manitoba’s second-largest hospital “overwhelmingly” voted in favour of grey-listing the facility — a tactic that discourages colleagues from seeking jobs there — to escalate their union’s call for a safer workplace.

St. Boniface Hospital is the third health facility to be grey-listed by Manitoba Nurses Union members since August, joining Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg and Thompson General Hospital.

“Nurses have spoken, and basically what they’ve said is they’re not willing to accept unsafe workplaces any longer,” union president Darlene Jackson said. “I really, truly hope the employer and the government act on this quickly”

The union said 94 per cent of nurses at St. Boniface were in favour of grey-listing. The online vote closed Friday. The union represents 1,600 nurses at the hospital.

A nurse was sexually assaulted in a hospital parkade in November. Jackson said a wheelchair was thrown at a nurse earlier this month.

The union said nurses for years have raised concerns about violence, “inadequate” security measures and staffing pressures that “undermine” patient care.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the province is listening to nurses and working alongside staff, health system leaders and unions to “strengthen” safety and security.

“We remain in communication with nurses and their union, and will continue listening and acting on front-line feedback,” Asagwara said in a statement. “Staff safety and patient safety go hand in hand, and this work continues to move forward with further improvements informed by front-line feedback.”

As part of the grey-listing, the union presented a list of recommendations for St. Boniface Hospital. Among them, it called for nurse-to-patient ratios to be implemented by the province, and for overall baseline staffing to be increased.

“Probably the No. 1 concern that nurses have, other than the fact they can be physically assaulted or psychologically assaulted at work, is the number of patients they are expected to care for and feeling as if they are not able to provide that care,” Jackson said.

A committee, which included nurses, spent more than a year developing recommendations that were given to the minister in December. Another meeting is set for March. The province has not announced a timeline for implementation.

“I am pushing as hard as I can because I believe that nurse-patient ratios are going to be an amazing retention and recruitment tool in this province,” Jackson said.

The NDP government has said it has added 1,200 nurses since the party won a majority in the October 2023 election.

The nurses union also called for improved security measures at St. Boniface Hospital’s entrances, in its tunnel system and around the property’s perimeter, a shuttle to transport staff to and from their vehicles, panic alarms and psychological support after serious incidents.

Jackson said union officials had had some discussions with the hospital and government. She acknowledged it takes time and it is costly to implement change.

A St. Boniface Hospital spokesperson said measures implemented in the last two years include the installation of 18 institutional safety officers, key-card access for a Taché Avenue stairwell, an overnight security patrol, improved lighting and surveillance systems, and limiting the number of public entrances to three, which all have security.

A smartphone app, called SAFE, was expanded to include the hospital in January. The app’s features include emergency notifications, a direct line to security, a panic alarm and location tracking of the user.

Amnesty lockers, in which weapons or potential weapons can be stored by visitors, are in the emergency room vestibule.

The parkade was assessed for potential safety-related improvements. Staff were invited to on-site personal safety workshops run by Winnipeg police.

“The work to improve safety and security is ongoing and progressing,” a hospital spokesperson said in a statement. “We know there is more to do and we are committed to listening and taking meaningful, informed steps, including addressing recommendations by the (nurses union).”

Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook said Manitobans don’t want to see a third hospital grey-listed for “months on end.”

“A third hospital being grey-listed is unprecedented in Manitoba history. I think it speaks to how frustrated Manitoba nurses are, and we stand by them and their requests for safer workplaces,” she said. “I would just encourage the minister of health and premier to act on those requests.”

Nurses at HSC voted in favour of grey-listing that hospital in August, weeks after several sexual assaults on and near the inner-city campus.

Thompson’s hospital was grey-listed in a November vote, which was held after a patient was stabbed and a gunshot was fired through a chapel window in separate incidents.

Jackson said there has been progress at both hospitals, but not enough to lift the grey-listings. The nurses union is seeking timelines for when certain improvements or changes will be made.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca