Winnipeg ER records busiest day ever over holidays: union

The union representing Manitoba nurses says members were kept busy over the holiday season thanks to the triple whammy of influenza, RSV and COVID-19.

Manitoba Nurses Union President Darlene Jackson says emergency departments and ICUs were packed over the holidays, with wait times continuing to rise in the New Year.

“It's been a very tough holiday season for those nurses on the front line,” Jackson said in an interview with CTV News Winnipeg.

According to Jackson, one of its members, a nurse in the emergency department at Health Sciences Centre (HSC), said they had 77 patients waiting for care at one point – a record for that facility.

Nurses worked mandatory overtime and missed breaks to deal with the surge in patients, she says, noting some employers sent out requests over the holidays for nurses to pick up extra shifts and cancel vacations in order to work.

The increase in patients is also causing bottlenecking, Jackson says, as there were not enough beds to accommodate those seeking care.

“Patients are waiting in emergency on stretchers for a bed to be admitted into, which then, of course, makes wait times in emergency longer, so it's a big domino effect that's happening in our facilities.”

A spokesperson for Shared Health says HSC’s emergency department staff continue to provide exceptional care in challenging conditions.

“Patient flow challenges continue to impact all Winnipeg hospitals, including HSC, as individuals requiring admission to an inpatient unit wait longer periods of time in emergency departments and urgent care centres for beds to open up,” the spokesperson said in an email.

They note patients are generally triaged within the first minutes of arrival, assessed and sent for diagnostics or lab work before returning to the waiting room.

Respiratory viruses are a major driver of increased patient volumes. Shared Health says HSC’s adult emergency department averaged about 160 patients every day in December, compared to 137 in December of 2022.

To address the surge, Shared Health says recruitment and retention efforts are ongoing.

“HSC has also recently opened a minor treatment clinic, which diverts about 20 low-acuity patients per day from its adult ED – resulting in less congestion in that department and significantly shorter wait times for patients who would otherwise wait the longest amount of time to receive care,” the spokesperson said.