Manitoba opposition slams NDP as trauma centre ‘grey listed’ by nurse’s union

Manitoba’s official opposition slams the NDP government on their healthcare promises after one of the province’s top trauma centres gets grey listed by the nurse’s union.

Last week, the Manitoba Nurses Union voted to discourage employees from taking jobs at the Health Sciences Centre. This all follows a string of sexual assaults in and around the hospital in early July.

“We are in a crisis, a healthcare crisis,” said Obby Khan, leader of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party. “The jewel of Manitoba’s healthcare system is now an unsafe workplace under this NDP government.”

Khan – also pointed to failures in homecare and the mailing of essential cheques, the latter of which the province paused then re-started.

“They said they had the answers, they said they had a plan,” said Khan. “The NDP said they would fix healthcare. They spent the entire election on a promise saying they would fix healthcare and nearly two years later, we are in a healthcare crisis under this NDP.”

The head of the Manitoba Nurses Union says the blame game needs to stop.

“A lot of this issue that’s happening in healthcare did start with the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (PC) government,” said Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union. “The NDP government did get into power with a mandate to fix healthcare and healthcare was going to be number one and we’re almost two years into the mandate, and we’ve really seen no improvement.”

Jackson is looking for concrete action – like making sure there are controlled entrances and a staff-wide alert system.

Shared Health says they’re working on procuring the latter and laid out a list of improvements they have done in the past several years.

“The majority of those, in fact, I would say, almost all of them, were done because they were compelled by an arbitrator,” said Jackson.

In a statement, Shared Health said:

“There is more to do, and we are fully committed to listening, learning, and continuing to take meaningful steps to support a safer environment for everyone.”

A spokesperson for Minister Asagwara told CityNews in a statement:

“No one trusts the PCs to run health care, and if Obby Khan doubts that, he should look at the last election results. Manitobans voted them out because they closed emergency rooms, cut health-care staff, and left communities without the care they need. That’s the damage our government is fixing — damage that takes years to repair, not the two years the PCs pretend is enough.

While Mr. Khan complains, we are finding solutions. We are working to make the Health Sciences Centre (HSC) safer after years of neglect by hiring more security staff, installing AI-powered weapons scanners, and adding 100 new cameras. We’ve also restarted mailing cheques to vulnerable Manitobans, with safeguards in place to prevent delays, something the PCs never planned for.

and Winnipeg Regional Health Authority

We are also fixing the home care system they neglected and allowed to deteriorate. We’ve launched a comprehensive review of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) Home Care, are meeting directly with staff to address scheduling issues, and have a dedicated Home Care Strategy Team reporting to the Health Minister to deliver lasting improvements. Health care is the number one reason Manitobans voted the PCs out. They cut it. We’re rebuilding it.”