Province has to hire, implement nurse-to-patient ratios, union leader says

The legislation is in place and the recommendations are in, but Manitoba needs to hire more people if nurse-to-patient ratios are to become a reality, the union representing public-system nurses in the province said Friday.

“We aren’t even close to ratios in most of our areas, so that means we would need to hire nurses, but I consider this to be a huge investment in our health-care system that is going to give nurses a chance to provide safe, quality patient care with numbers of patients that they can actually manage,” Manitoba Nurses Union Darlene Jackson said Friday after the province released a report out forth by the Manitoba Nurse-Patient Ratio subcommittee.

The recommendations lay out minimum staffing ratios in all areas of hospital and long-term care across the province.

Fridays release follows the passage of Bill 28 (The Health System Governance and Accountability Amendment Act — Nurse to Patient Ratios) in the legislature this week.

Jackson was among the stakeholders and government officials on the subcommittee, which called for minimum baseline staffing of two nurses per unit or program, alongside ratios for departments such as emergency rooms and intensive-care, psychiatry, maternity, pediatric and palliative unions.

In an emergency department, patients needing critical care would have a ratio of one nurse to one patient, according to the recommendations. Minor treatment areas would have one nurse for every four patients and there would be one nurse for every two or three general-acuity patients.

The report also suggests minimum staffing levels in non-acute areas, including home-care and community mental-health, addictions and recovery programs.

The recommended ratios came, in part, from consultation with nurses in B.C. where nurse-patient ratios have been established and are currently being implemented in phases across different departments.

Jackson called the nurse-patient ratios a good first step in turning a corner on addressing strain in the health-care system, but implementing the commitments made by the province have to begin soon.

“There’s not enough nurses, and we’ll never have enough nurses if we don’t set a goal and work towards that goal,” she said. “Implementation will begin in a type of a unit, and we start implementation there. And once we’ve got that done, we’re going to start pulling nurses into the system, and we’re going to start retaining nurses in the system, because this is so important for nurses right now to be able to provide that care.”

Nurse vacancy rates across Manitoba remain high. In Winnipeg, between the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Shared Health, the vacancy rate sat between 12 and 15 per cent in March, according to data provided by the union.

Prairie Mountain Health had a 32 per cent vacancy rate as of February. Southern Health had a 25 per cent vacancy rate in January, and the Northern Health Region’s vacancy rate was 25 per cent in December.

In February the Interlake-Eastern Health Region recorded an 11 per cent vacancy rate. Overall, there are more than 1,200 vacant nursing positions in the rural regions right now, the union said.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara did not have a timeline for implementing minimum staffing levels Friday. The minister said now that Bill 28 has become law, an implementation task force will look at the committee’s recommendations and figure out how best to deliver on the promise.

Asagwara said some facilities and health regions differ in needs and the ratios will reflect that.

“This is really about making sure that everybody has the ratios that make the most sense for them,” the minister said.

When ratios are eventually implemented, Asagwara said the province will ultimately be responsible for ensuring the staffing minimums are met.

In the report, the subcommittee also recommended mentorship positions for new nurses, the development of a rural and northern framework of staffing ratios to reflect the needs in those health regions, an independent pre- and post-implementation evaluation and more money for staffing, infrastructure and workforce initiatives

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca