Nurses union skeptical of plan to end mandatory OT amid Westman shortage

BRANDON — Despite a 30 per cent vacancy rate for nurses in the Prairie Mountain Health region, the province is forging ahead with a plan to end mandatory overtime for health-care workers.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara told reporters Wednesday the government believes Manitoba has enough nurses to commit to the plan outlined in Tuesday’s throne speech.

“We’ve got the nurses in the health-care system to do this, and we’re going to keep hiring as many nurses as possible, including welcoming nurses from other jurisdictions to our province from the United States, internationally educated nurses,” Asagwara said.

“There are many folks now who are looking at Manitoba as their top choice, not a flyover province, because our government is taking these steps.”

As of last month, there were 650 vacant nursing positions in Prairie Mountain Health, with licensed practical nurses accounting for 353 of those positions and registered nurses for 273, data from the Manitoba Nurses Union show.

There were also 11 nurse practitioner vacancies and 13 registered practical nurse vacancies. Prairie Mountain Health has a total of 2,174 positions for nurses.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said ending mandatory overtime is a “little ambitious” and is concerned about how the government plans to move forward.

“I think it’s a positive move … but I feel as if, right now, we do not have enough nurses to actually make that happen, and until we are fully staffed, it’s going to be very difficult to say no mandating,” Jackson said Wednesday.

Even if nurses aren’t mandated to work overtime, many feel obligated to or guilty if they don’t work extra hours to help relieve their colleagues’ workloads and ensure patients are getting the care they need, she said.

Jackson said nurses are given no choice but to work extended hours — sometimes after they’ve already clocked in for a 12-hour shift.

“If you go in for an eight-hour day shift, you may end up working an eight-hour evening as well,” she said.

Since April 2024, Manitoba has hired 481 net new nurses, the province said in a news release earlier this year. Last month, the NDP government said it has added 3,400 net new health-care workers since it came to power two years ago.

In Tuesday’s throne speech, the province also pledged to legislate staff-to-patient ratios in priority areas like hospital emergency rooms, improve patient safety by making a charter, introduce digital health cards and launch a new patient portal so people can access their immunization and lab results.

Jackson said she doesn’t think the province needs to have a patient safety charter, but rather the means to ensure there’s appropriate staffing, nurse-to-patient ratios, a safe facility to provide care, and a continued focus on recruitment and retention.

“We still have vacancies in this province and until every vacancy is full, I don’t see us being successful in providing safe patient care for every Manitoban,” Jackson said. “It’s great to have it in writing, but where’s the teeth in it?”

Prairie Mountain Health, which employs approximately 8,200 health-care workers, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

— Brandon Sun