Union representing health-care workers calling for changes in rural Manitoba to fix health system

The Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union (MGEU) is calling for better recruitment and retention to address the health-care crisis in rural Manitoba.

A new report from the MGEU highlights the need for support and technical health-care staff in rural parts of the province.

It found vacancy rates in the Prairie Mountain Health Region for health-care aides is over 30 per cent and there are more than 700 health-care aides and home care program vacancies in the Prairie Mountain Health and the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority.

"We cannot fix health care without fixing the staffing crisis," said Kyle Ross, the president of the MGEU.

"This government made an election commitment to fix health care. To keep this promise, they must invest in the health-care team. To do that will require both a new collective agreement that recognizes the contributions of these members and addresses the staffing crisis, but also a new long-term focus on systemic needs."

Ross said the growing number of seniors in Manitoba means more health-care services will be required, resulting in the need for more health-care workers.

"Health employers are competing for workers with retail and service industry in small and medium-sized communities, and must improve wages to recruit and retain these vital members to the health-care team."

As part of the report, the MGEU has made 10 recommendations to the province that it feels will help fix health care in Manitoba.

The recommendations range from developing a plan to recruit and retain staff and providing better salaries to offering training for positions that have high vacancy rates and investing in improving working conditions.

"I think we're willing to work with the government and try to find a deal that's fair for everyone, but our workers have been left behind in the past and the vacancy rates show that."

Speaking Thursday afternoon, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said it is important to listen when these concerns are brought forward.

"I was thrilled actually, to see that the recommendations that MGEU brought forward are very aligned with what our government has been doing from day one in our administration," they said.

Asagwara said it is extremely important to listen to the expertise of front-line workers to best understand how to repair the health-care system.

"We are constantly assessing and evaluating our staffing levels in our health-care system and specifically around personal care home staffing. The target that we have is to achieve 4.1 hours of care, direct care, per resident per day."

In an emailed statement Thursday evening, Julene Sawatzky, the executive lead of human resources for the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, said vacancy rates have been trending downward.

"Regional home care health-care aide vacancy rates in the region have fallen from 23 per cent last December to 11 per cent this month – a direct result of the focus on community recruitment into the region’s training program and other recruitment efforts," she said.

She noted they are committed to building a better health system and their efforts, combined with the province's focus on recruitment and retention, supports their goals.