Manitoba hires hundreds of health-care workers, on track to meet target: Kinew

Posted on September 26, 2024 by Peggy

Staff vacancy levels in Manitoba’s health-care system are starting to stabilize, Premier Wab Kinew says, as the province fills hundreds of positions, bringing Manitoba closer toward its goal of hiring 1,000 new health-care workers.

Last spring, the NDP government pledged $310 million from its budget toward its goal of adding 1,000 new health-care workers throughout the year.

Halfway through the NDP’s budget year, the province said it had staffed 873 net new positions, bringing on board 304 nurses, 290 health-care aides and 116 physicians to Mantioba’s public health-care system.

“While we haven’t hit our goal of completely fixing health care, the early steps that we’re taking are showing results,” Kinew said at a news conference Thursday.

“We’re keeping our word to you … but there’s still a lot more work to be done.”

The province had initially set its target to fill 1,000 positions with 100 doctors, 210 nurses, 90 paramedics and 600 care aides.

But as part of its announcement the province is also counting positions across other health-care disciplines as part of the 873 positions filled, including seven midwives, 61 residents and 80 allied health workers in diagnostic positions.

There was also no direct mention as to how many paramedics were hired between April and August, but the province said it has filled seven allied health emergency response service positions which includes paramedics.

Hiring efforts across the board: province

Minister of Health Uzoma Asagwara said the province left “no stone unturned” to hire new health-care workers, including setting up a recruitment and retention office to bring internationally-educated workers into the province.

Asagwara added that Manitoba has contacted over 250 health-care workers out of the province, including campaigning in the U.K. to attract physicians and fill positions in Manitoba.

Asagwara said the province has also taken steps to bring recently retired nurses back to the workforce, which has resulted in 60 of them rejoining the health-care system since January.

“We saw that the health-care workforce numbers were dwindling … we saw a toxic culture under the previous government that resulted in mass resignations, early retirements, and quite frankly, paltry recruitment and retention numbers,” Asagwara said.

“We committed to turning that tide.”

A person in a black suits talks to a person wearing a floral shirt. — Minister of Health Uzoma Asagwara said the province left ‘no stone unturned’ to hire new health-care workers, including setting up a recruitment and retention office to bring internationally educated workers to Manitoba. (Felisha Adam/CBC)

Kinew said today’s announcement is not only in part to the changes his government has put forward since taking office last year but said a “lot of it” falls on the province’s current health minister.

“Under Heather Stefanson, people would graduate and leave the province,” he said. “Under Minister Asagwara, somebody who graduates gets an offer letter put in their hand to work right here in Manitoba.”

Kathleen Cook, the Progressive Conservatives’ health critic, disagrees, telling CBC News that the hiring numbers are due to “many recruitment and retention initiatives” put forward by the previous government.

Cook said it is “disingenuous” for the NDP government to take “full credit” when the previous government added more seats at the University of Manitoba’s medical school and oversaw the creation of a nurse pool.

“These are seeds that are planted that don’t bear fruit immediately, they take time, and today’s announcement is a result of that forethought and that planning,” she said.

No relief yet: Nurses Union

Doctors Manitoba said a net increase in the number of physicians hired is a step in the right direction toward addressing staff shortages.

A spokesperson for the Manitoba Nurses Union told CBC News in a statement the net hiring of 340 new nurses is significant, but members on the front lines are “yet to report any noticeable relief” like a drastic reduction in mandatory overtime and “wasteful” agency spending.

A group of nurses stand side by side — Manitoba Nurses Union said the net hiring of 340 new nurses is significant, but members on the front lines are ‘yet to report any noticeable relief’ like a drastic reduction in mandatory overtime. (Felisha Adam/CBC)

A spokesperson for the union added the number of physicians currently working might shrink once the licences of existing doctors expire later in the fall with some opting out.

But Kinew is confident the province is going to reach its hiring target in the coming months, and said increasing staff numbers is only a first step.

“It is going to take us many years of sustaining this kind of effort for us to deliver the improvements to health care that we want to see for patients right across this great province,” he said.