Vacancy rate rises to more than 1 in 4 jobs at St. Boniface ER

One in every fourpositions in St. Boniface Hospital's emergency department is sitting vacant, as the Manitoba New Democrats pounced Tuesday on a new statistic whileresumingits pre-election criticismof a health-care system they claim is in disarray.

In particular, the New Democrats zeroed in on the staff vacancy rate at St. Boniface ER, which was recently recorded at25.8 per cent overall.

Health Minister Cameron Friesenshared the statistic at hisdepartment's estimates hearing on Monday, and the NDPbrought it up on Tuesday, at question period.

"We knowthat wait times are getting worse becausethis governmentcannot staff emergency rooms in Winnipeg and across the province," NDP Leader Wab Kinew said, in thefirst question period since the provincial election three weeks ago.

Vacancy rates 'unacceptable'

Vacancy rates atthe hospital's emergency room haveincreased in the last few years,while the government undergoesa massive transformation ofWinnipeg'shealth-care system, which included the conversion of three emergency rooms into urgent care centres.

An internal document obtained by the NDPshows 21.9 per cent of ER positions at St. Boniface were vacant at the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year, which rose to 23 per cent once the following fiscal year ended.

Recently, other hospitals haveexperienced sizeable vacancy rates, including 16.4per cent at Grace Hospital and 15 per cent at Victoria General Hospital, but theissueis most pronounced at St. Boniface.

"The 25.8per cent vacancy rate at St. Boniface is simply unacceptable," NDP health critic UzomaAsagwarasaidafter question period.

"It doesn't serve families and all it does is further perpetuate harm happening to folks who are just trying to get good, qualityhealth care."

Friesenargued the government has been busy with the largesthealth-care revamp the province has ever seen. He said that "because we are now stabilizing the system, it means we can focus on what is obviously the next challenge, which is filling vacant positions."

"Obviously,when we move around so many pieces of the puzzlere-combiningworkforces, movingpeople from site to site in order to streamline and make our system more efficient, thereare changes involved."

A request for the government to explain whenthe vacancy rate reached25.8 per cent was not returned.

The province hasshored up staffing levels inthe last three months, Friesen said.

In that time span,256 new health-care workers werehired in Winnipeg, including half of that total finding work at St. Boniface Hospital. Of the new hires, 56people were brought in from outside the Winnipeg jurisdiction.

"We are aware of the need to fill vacancies," Friesen said.

"We know that traditionally, in this province, it's taken too long to fill vacancies in health care and we are working cooperatively, even with labour, in order to find ways to make that process go faster."

In question period, the NDP also called out the government for under spending its health care budget by $215 million, the province's annual statements show, money the NDP said could have usedto bolster a languishing health-care system.

Friesendid not answer the question, but rather said he was warned of an "orange wave coming to the northeast part of Winnipeg," where some of the biggest ER changes occurred, but yet a number of his colleagues withstood NDP challenges and were re-elected last month.

"Manitobans know that we are investing in health care," he said.