Manitoba was in talks with Thunder Bay hospital days before Stefanson said health-care system didn't need help

Five days before Heather Stefanson insisted publicly that Manitoba's health-care system couldcare for dozens of critically ill patients, atop health official was talking with leadership at anOntario hospital thatwould go on to treat some of thosepatients.

The NDParguedStefanson, then Manitoba'shealth minister,should have known better than to suggest last May that the provincecouldcare for all its patients.

Manitoba eventually sent 57 COVID-19 patients out of the provinceas itstruggled to cope with the pandemic's third wave.

"This is very concerning because the premier of Manitoba, who was then thehealth minister, should have been straight up with people, should have helped to convey the severity of the crisis, but most of all should have just told the truth about what was happening in our health-care system," NDP Leader Wab Kinew told reporters Monday.

Kinewalleges Stefansondeliberately misled Manitobans, but thepremier said in a statement that isn't the case.

However, the premier's office didn't answer if Stefansonknew out-of-province patient transfers might be a possibility when she spoke with reporters on May 18.

Shared Health discussed Thunder Bay possibility

It appearstop health executives were in the know, however.On May 13,Shared Health CEO Adam Topphad a meeting regarding Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centreand ICU capacity, according to a copy of Topp's calendar, which was obtained by the New Democrats through a freedom of information request.

Stefanson's owncalendar, which the NDP also received, statesthe former health minister received a briefingthat day onICU capacity, but it doesn't specify if theThunder Bay, Ont., alternative was discussed.

She proceeded to tell reporterson May 18 thatthe province could handle an additional 50 intensive-care patients up to 170 but later that same day, she was proven wrong. Shared Healthconcluded it could not handle a single additional patient and sent the first two of three stable COVID-19 patients to Thunder Bay.

"We have the documents to show that the vast majority of Manitobans who were skeptical of the government's claims [of ICU capacity] at that time were, in fact, right, and that the government was not being straight up about the situation in our hospitals," Kinew said.

Even before the Thunder Bay meeting, Shared Health knew the province wasn'tcapable of absorbing some 170 intensive care patients, despite what Stefanson said.

On May 7,Lanette Siragusa, the province's chief nursing officer at the time, said a second-waveplan to staff as manyas 173 ICU beds is no longer on the table. She described it as a "paper exercise" that Manitoba's health-care system could not handle in reality.

Manitoba wound up treating a high of 131 critically ill patients within theprovince during the third wave.

Between May 13 to 17,Manitoba ICUs admitted 34 patients with COVID-19, which is half of the pre-pandemic capacity for critical care patients in the entire province (72 beds).

In a statement, Stefanson said "under no circumstances did I misleadManitobans about ICU capacity during the COVID-19 surge last spring.

"I understood Manitoba needed additional ICU capacity and as such was having daily briefings and incident command meetings with Shared Health and public health officials to be briefed on contingency plans," she said.

Stefanson addedshe only knew of the patient transfers to Thunder Bay after the decision was made by clinical health leaders.

Since last fall, Manitoba no longertransfers intensive care patients out of province. Instead, more than 300 hospitalized and stablepatients have been transportedfrom their local regional health authority to a region fartherfrom home.

WATCH |Shared Health working behind-the-scenes to transfer patients to Thunder Bay

Province knew of Thunder Bay transfer possibility days before it happened, NDP says

3 years ago

Duration 1:42

Premier Heather Stefanson is under fire after a calendar confirms Shared Health was in talks with Thunder Bay hospital in May 2021, days before she insisted the province's health-care system could handle dozens more patients.