Manitoba not adequately prepared for transition away from agency nursing, union says
CBC
The union representing Manitoba's nurses is concerned a reduction in the number of nursing agencies the province works with could exacerbate staffing shortages during the transition period.
While supportive of the change that takes effect Thursday, Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said some hospitals that have relied on agency nurses are having trouble filling shifts, as the province ends its relationship with dozens of private agencies.
"We are hearing from nurses throughout the province that there are shifts that are unfilled, and there are some concerns from nurses out there on who’s going to fill these shifts," Jackson said Wednesday.
Manitoba’s health minister announced last week that starting Jan. 15, the province will only work with four private nursing agencies, as opposed to the nearly 80 it used before the change.
That change already appears to be posing problems for some rural hospitals, Jackson said.
"We know specifically Dauphin has an issue. Pine Falls has an issue."
Nurses will also now only be permitted to work for one agency at a time, meaning they may be prevented from working in certain regions.
That's because each regional health authority will only be able to use three of the four remaining agencies when trying to fill vacancies. Which agencies can be used differs by region.
The province hopes agency nurses will move to one of the four chosen agencies or take a permanent job in the public system, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara has previously said.
Former nurse Katrina Koop isn’t confident that will happen, and wonders how the province will keep facilities staffed.
"It's just all this red tape that's just going to decrease the nursing pool, because there's not as many opportunities to work now, and you have to stick within these strict guidelines," she said.
Koop didn’t renew her registered nurse licence after working for over a decade, both directly for a hospital and for private agencies, including one she ran herself.
CBC News reached out to five regional health authorities in the province, including Prairie Mountain Health, which oversees Dauphin Regional Health Centre, and the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, which is in charge of the Pine Falls Health Complex.
Prairie Mountain CEO Treena Slate said the western region continues to experience nursing vacancies at a number of sites.
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