Listen to this article
Estimated 2 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Nurses at Winnipeg’s Seven Oaks Hospital have officially declared the facility a dangerous workplace because they’re expected to care for too many patients with intense needs, their union says.
In June, 98 per cent of the nurses working at the hospital voted in favour of “grey-listing” the hospital due to ongoing staffing and workplace safety concerns.
Repeated requests for staffing support went unresolved, the Manitoba Nurses Union said in a news release Friday.
Nurses at the Winnipeg hospital described caring for patients with increasingly complex needs, including dialysis and treatment for multiple health conditions, said the news release from the union, which represents more than 13,000 nurses across the province.
The nurses have also reported that medical patients are being admitted to geriatric rehabilitation units without matching changes to nurse staffing, while patient numbers exceed unit capacity.
Security cameras have been repaired and security staffing has improved, the union said, but nurses do not feel those measures address their ongoing workload concerns.
The nurses are also concerned about an additional overnight triage nurse position that was limited to a one-year term with no guarantee of continuing, the union said.
Grey-listing is intended to warn other nurses about unsafe workplaces and discourage them from taking work at those facilities.
Health Sciences Centre and St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg and Thompson General Hospital in northern Manitoba have also been grey-listed by the union.
At an unrelated news conference Friday, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the province is listening to health-care workers and adding more health-care staff, but acknowledged more work needs to be done.
“We’ve met with and talked directly with the MNU rep at that site, and we have been very responsive to requests and calls for more action in terms of safety, security and staffing,” Asagwara said.
“For us as a government, there’s no finish line here. We’re going to continue to staff the front lines of the health-care system all across the province, as quickly as we can.”
WATCH | Winnipeg hospital grey-listed:
Nurses grey-list 4th Manitoba hospital over working conditions
Nurses working at Seven Oaks Hospital in Winnipeg have officially grey-listed the facility, meaning nurses are being discouraged from taking work there, due to safety concerns, their union says. Meanwhile, the second day of meetings in Winnipeg between Canada’s health ministers concluded with an announcement that federal funding for drugs to treat rare diseases will be extended.