the province announced it had hired 481 nurses since April 2024<\/a>, but Jackson questions that stat.<\/p>\n\u201cI have nurses coming to me and asking, \u2018Where are they?\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761524771_936_default.jpg\")
Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson says the province is ‘almost jumping the gun’ in some of its promises, claiming the system still doesn\u2019t have enough health-care professionals to support the proposed changes. (Travis Golby\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters after the throne speech, Premier Wab Kinew insisted the system does have enough nurses and \u201cthat’s why we’re moving forward with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m confident that those on the front lines are doing their job. We need the administration to do their job now, and there will be standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jackson says her members still aren\u2019t noticing a difference when it comes to late shifts, patient loads and vacancies, pointing to a 37 per cent nursing vacancy rate at the obstetrics unit in Thompson.<\/p>\n
She questioned the preparedness of the health-care system and overall timing of the announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love, love love nothing better than to see an end to mandating [overtime] but I don\u2019t think we\u2019re in a position now where we can legislate an end \u2026 and still have a functioning health-care system,\u201d Jackson said, adding that the culture in the system continues to be a problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cChanging culture would definitely affect retention. Once we have recruited enough nurses and we can retain them, then \u2026 we \u2019ll be able to end mandatory overtime at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763565850_329_default.jpg\")
Sonia Udod said she continues to hear from the health-care sector about the challenges of keeping newly-graduated registered nurses in the workforce. (Submitted by Sonia Udod)<\/p>\n
Sonia Udod, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Manitoba, agreed there\u2019s \u201cgood and bad\u201d in the announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho will take care of the patients when there are no nurses to take over?\u201d Udod said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how that\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Udod said she continues to hear from the health-care sector about the challenges of keeping newly-graduated registered nurses in the workforce, even though Manitoba nursing schools have increased the number of enrollment slots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re afraid. They\u2019re scared. They\u2019re doubtful, and they\u2019re not sure how to manage that demanding and unpredictable work environment,\u201d she said of recent graduates.<\/p>\n
Progressive Conservative health critic MLA Kathleen Cook called Kinew\u2019s assertion that the health-care system had enough nurses \u201cwild.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s pretty clear that we don’t. Anyone who’s visited a Manitoba hospital lately will tell you that,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763565851_219_default.jpg\")
Manitoba PC health critic MLA Kathleen Cook says Kinew\u2019s assertion the health-care system has enough nurses to support his proposed changes is \u201cwild.\u201d (Justin Fraser\/CBC)<\/p>\n
She also questioned how the province intends to enforce and implement an end to mandatory overtime.<\/p>\n
The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals agreed it wouldn\u2019t have enough staff either.<\/p>\n
\u201cMandatory overtime is something that is extremely problematic for all areas of allied health,\u201d said president Jason Linklater, adding that a plan that addresses gaps in training in rural areas would be a better solution.<\/p>\n
His union represents about 7,000 health-care professionals, including emergency dispatchers and rural paramedics, physiotherapists and respiratory therapists.<\/p>\n
As for the throne speech pledge to create a patient safety charter \u201censhrining into law your right to good health care,\u201d Udod called that \u201cjust words.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s a great idea. But again, how is that going to be enforced?\u201d<\/p>\n
The president of Doctors Manitoba, Dr. Nichelle Desilets, appeared optimistic about the province\u2019s promises, but added their success hinges on proper consultation and planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to find a way to meaningfully implement it,\u201d she said specifically about the safety charter.<\/p>\n
The promise to legislate staff-to-patient ratios in priority areas of the health-care system is something Manitoba Health Coalition\u2019s director Noah Schulz is encouraged by.<\/p>\n
However, he said he would need to see more details.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763565851_492_default.jpg\")
Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Nichelle Desilets said the success of the province’s proposed changes hinges on proper consultation and planning. (Submitted by Doctors Manitoba)<\/p>\n
Kinew said the “priority areas” would be determined at a later time but hinted that emergency rooms could be among the first.<\/p>\n
Jackson, however, expressed concern over legislating ratios for only selected areas of health care, saying it wouldn\u2019t be fair to everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat really worries me, because our community has been working extremely hard to ensure that we are going to provide numbers for every unit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a patient in long-term care, if you\u2019re a patient that\u2019s accessing home care, if you\u2019re a patient in acute care, you deserve to be looked after by a nurse who is following and working in a schedule that follows the minimum nurse-patient ratios.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other health-care related announcement from the throne speech include the introduction of digital health cards and the launch of a new patient portal where Manitobans can access immunizations and lab results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manitoba\u2019s plan for changes to the health-care system, which it says will\u00a0improve patient safety, has garnered mixed reactions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-293512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}