The provincial government issued a stern reminder to health leaders Tuesday to redirect eight per cent of the dollars previously earmarked for corporate services to improve patient care.
Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara hosted an afternoon news conference to defend a September directive to local health authorities regarding finances for the current fiscal year, and to address related concerns.
“There really shouldn’t be any confusion,” Asagwara told reporters in the health minister’s third-floor office inside the Manitoba Legislative Building.
Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara defended a September directive to local health authorities regarding finances for the current fiscal year during Tuesday’s news conference.
“I have been explicitly clear from Day 1 that in Manitoba, we will not continue to balloon and grow the bureaucracy at the expense of the front lines of our health-care system.”
Shared Health’s latest annual report shows the provincial health authority spent about $68 million — 3.12 per cent of its 2023-24 expenses — on corporate-related administration.
Combined, regional health authorities’ tab for that line item was $188 million, or just under three per cent.
Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, told the Free Press Monday that members from two different regions had been warned about cutbacks resulting in higher nurse-patient loads.
Prairie Mountain Health and Southern Health are the regions in question, Jackson said.
Asagwara downplayed those reports, but did not provide specific details about the cuts or how they will ensure clinical capacity and services are not negatively impacted.
The minister repeatedly said they have been “very, very clear” that the reallocation of funds from corporate services must support bedside care.
“Instead of spending more money on suits, we should be spending our money on scrubs,” Asagwara said, adding the priority must be hiring more nurses, doctors, health-care aides and allied health-care professionals.
A closer look at the nearly $70 million spent on corporate services at Shared Health last year reveals some positions have no direct impact to the care patients are receiving, said the former psychiatric nurse and addictions specialist.
The minister added that if a health-care leader in any part of the province is not following the province’s “very clear direction,” that is unacceptable and they want to hear about it.
Doctors Manitoba president-elect Dr. Nichelle Desilets was asked about the health minister’s directive at an unrelated event Tuesday, but chose to stay out of the fray.
The Neepawa-based family doctor said it’s always a good thing when front-line health-care workers have input on decisions that affect them.
“No matter who you talk to, a front-line health-care worker who’s involved in patient care is going to be enthusiastic about providing their opinion about what really happens on the ground and what local or regional solutions work best for that facility,” she said.
— with files from Carol Sanders and Chris Kitching
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she joined the newsroom as a reporter in 2019. Read more about Maggie.
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