Recruitment remains focus for PMH

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This article was published 02/11/2023 (1081 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Recruiting and retaining health-care workers and paying millions for agency nurses continue to be the top challenges for Prairie Mountain Health (PMH), said Brian Schoonbaert, CEO of the health region, during its annual general meeting on Wednesday.

“I want you all to know that this is of course the most important priority for us. It seems like our recruitment efforts ebb and flow. We might be able to recruit in one area and then another community has difficulty. So, we’re constantly working to address all the issues,” Schoonbaert said during his live and online presentation.

The annual report for 2022-23 also provided updates on new physicians who have been hired in several Westman communities, including Deloraine, which has had a new Canadian-trained doctor since August.

International medical graduates have already started working in Virden, Russell, and Swan River, said Schoonbaert while Hamiota and Glenboro will each gain an international medical graduate in January 2024.

In Killarney, a recruitment firm has secured one physician from the United Kingdom who is set to start seeing patients early in 2024 as well, said Schoonbaert.

Internationally educated physicians can practise in Manitoba once they’ve demonstrated their competency through the College of Family Physicians of Canada or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or by completing the Manitoba practice assessment program.

In addition to the new physicians coming to communities within the PMH region, Schoonbaert said they have made great progress by hiring an ophthalmologist and a spine surgeon for Brandon Regional Health Centre, with other recruiting efforts continuing for obstetrics, gynecology, a pediatrician, and a hospitalist.

Plus, there are now 27 nurse practitioners working in primary care, long-term care, acute care, in the emergency department, as well as in pain and youth clinics.

PMH has already seen the benefits of a recruiting mission to the Philippines taken earlier this year, said Schoonbaert.

In February 2023, a group of Manitoba government officials, including two representatives from PMH, embarked on a recruiting mission to the Philippines, interviewing nearly 400 nurses and offering about 350 letters of intent to applicants.

“We’ve had our health-care aide and one nurse already start, and we expect that the arrivals will be coming in different stages. But overall, we expect 63 health-care workers to be coming to PMH through that particular recruitment,” Schoonbaert said.

But there are still many vacancies in the region’s health-care system, added Schoonbaert, including community health, allied health, “essentially all areas in every sector,” with the highest vacancy rates in nursing and health-care aides, and the shortages are costing millions.

Manitoba often hires private — or agency — nurses to fill staff shortages, and over the last several years, there has been an increase in PMH.

During PMH’s last fiscal year, 2021-22, the health region spent $41.5 million on agency nurses, said Dan McGregor, CFO and PMH’s regional lead of corporate services.

“This year until the end of August was $17 million. And so, I think if you extrapolate that out, that works out to about $41 million again, so it’s pretty close to consistent,” McGregor said.

PMH is projecting a deficit going into the next fiscal year, said Schoonbaert, “which is not typical for PMH, but it’s because of agency nurses and overtime.”

“Once we’re able to attract and retain more providers, those costs will go down. But we really have no opportunities to cut costs in that area, because we’re trying to provide all the services that we’ve always provided. And accordingly, those costs for overtime and agency will be inevitable for the next coming year,” Schoonbaert said.

The projected deficit for 2023-24 is $29 million for the year ending March 31, McGregor told The Sun, and it’s almost entirely related to agency and overtime costs.

“I think everybody is concerned about the amount, when it’s largely related to one huge area of concern. Obviously, it’s staffing and not because it’s miscellaneous overexpenditures, or things that are difficult to track down,” McGregor said.

“I think it really is just focusing on how are we going to staff these sites. Obviously, not an easy task, much easier said than done, it’s going to take a number of years to slowly make headway there. But at least I think we’re doing a lot of work, whether it’s international recruitment or growing our own staff – there’s certainly a lot of focus on the HR aspect.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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