An internal memo was sent to St. Boniface staff twice in the last week and a half – on June 3 and June 12 - regarding a 24-hour redirection of patients.
“It wasn’t referring to EMS redirection. It was referring to patients being seen again in ED through various programs,” said Martine Bouchard, president and CEO of St. Boniface Hospital.
Bouchard said the memo was sent when there was a surge in patients. She notes the wording of the memo didn’t reflect the situation itself, as only a small number of people were impacted, specifically those who came for testing or results.
“That means we are making sure we are seeing the right patients, at the right place, at the right time, being served by the right employee,” she said.
Réal Cloutier, the president and CEO of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said with issues like these communication needs to be managed differently.
“People, rather than sending memos, should actually talk to each other and actually make sure we are working on a solution to move the patients to either the hospital or through the rest of the healthcare system as we do seven days a week,” he said.
The opposition parties say this is a direct result of the Progressive Conservative government replacing Concordia Hospital’s emergency room with an urgent care centre.
“They close Concordia ER, a week later for the first time ever they have to start turning away patients from St. Boniface Hospital,” said NDP leader Wab Kinew.
Cloutier said that isn't the case.
"You can get safe care within our health-care system. We monitor the safety of the care we provide, in particular, we do that with changes," he said.
CTV News has reached out to the province for comment.
- With files from CTV's Michelle Gerwing
