Manitoba adding 36 acute-care beds at St. Boniface Hospital to reduce ER strain, wait times

The provincial government will add 36 new acute-care beds to St. Boniface Hospital as a means of addressing mounting wait times in emergency rooms and other pressures on the health-care system.

The beds will openin phases beginningwith 10in late March and be used to help transition patients from the ER to other areas of care in the facility, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara announced during a news conference at the Winnipeg hospital Wednesday.

"Under the previous PC government, health care wasn't invested in, it was cut year over year ... and when those decisions were made it forced a number of health-care workers out of our health-care system," saidAsagwara, who was apsychiatric nurse before being elected MLA for Union Station in 2019.

"Investing in health care in Manitoba isn't just about beds, it's about people, and so our commitment is to make sure that we're investing in people in our health-care system across the province and taking a system-wide approach which hasn't been done in many years."

They said the beds will open ina "sustainable" manner and the hope is to have all 36 operational and staffed within a year. Asked where the staff would come from, Asagwara suggested there are hundreds of nursing students eager to get jobs in the near future.

WATCH|Staff retention 'most important' step toward shoring up system, saysAsagwara:

Retaining staff 'most important' step toward shoring up health-care system: minister

8 months ago

Duration 0:52

Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara says the 'most important' step toward staffing newly announced hospital beds is ensuring current front-line workers stay in the health-care system.

The NDP was elected last fall after running a campaign focused on improving issues that ail the health-care system. They took over in October, whenER and urgent care wait times at Winnipeg hospitals swelled to their highest point in a decade.

In November, the newly minted government committed to adding 31 new acute-care beds toWinnipeg's Grace Hospitaland putting up funds for hiring more staff to help hospitals discharge more patientsseven days a week, up from five.

Asagwara said those pledges and the latestcommitment of three dozen new beds area product of listening to feedback from front-line workers.

Dr. Paul Ratana, the medical director for theemergency department atSt. Boniface,said there are many daysthat all the beds in the St. Boniface ER are occupied by patients who have already been seen and require admission.

"But their movement to the wards cannot occur for hours, or in some cases days," he said.

"The inability for patients previously seen and admitted is, in my experience, the No. 1 reason that wait times are excessive and it prevents patients from getting out of the waiting room and into treatment places."

WATCH |St. Boniface doctor hopeful new beds will get facility 'to a better place':

St. Boniface hospital doctor hopeful new beds will get facility 'to a better place'

8 months ago

Duration 0:17

Dr. Paul Ratana, the medical director for the emergency department at St. Boniface, says announcements like Wednesday's make him optimistic some of the challenges the hospital faces right now will improve.

Adding more acute-care beds is a "vital" step toward reducing bottlenecks and freeing up space in ERs so more people can be treated sooner, Ratana said.

The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, a union representing 7,000allied health workers, said there aren't enough workersto staff existing beds.

MAHCP president Jason Linklatersaid the province needs to work on "filling vacancies and recruiting more respiratory therapists, X-ray and lab technologists, pharmacists and many other specialized health-care professionals necessary to expand capacity."

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinewsaid he, Asagwara and St. Boniface MLA Robert Loiselle would beback at the hospital at shift change Thursday morning to solicit more feedback from staff.

"Our government respects your expertise, we respect your experience, we respect how you've felt these past number of years, and now we are going to match your commitment at the government level," Kinew said, addressing front-line workers. "We're going to keep coming back and we're going to keep checking in."

36 acute-care beds to be added at St. Boniface Hospital to reduce ER strain

8 months ago

Duration 2:06

The Manitoba government says it's working to reduce wait times at the St. Boniface Hospital Emergency Department. On Wednesday, the premier and health minister announced a plan to add 36 beds to that hospital.