Tories call for ‘Westman-specific’ health strategy

A “Westman-specific health-care strategy” is needed to avoid another surgeon shortage at Brandon Regional Health Centre, says Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook.

The hospital was without a surgeon for a 24-hour period that ended Friday morning. That left patients with three options — they could wait it out, travel to Dauphin or go to Winnipeg.

“We can’t have things like this happening at a regional hospital,” Cook told the Sun.

“This is not the first time we’ve seen challenges at BRHC. That’s why we need a specific strategy for Westman, with some solutions that have been brought forward by front-line doctors,” she said.

“They’ve suggested a Brandon residency rotation and incentives to get people to Brandon specifically.”

Cook, the MLA for Winnipeg’s Roblin constituency, said she learned about the Brandon surgeon shortage from a front-line worker, who used the word “unprecedented.”

“They bring these concerns to me because in many cases, they’re afraid to speak up to the powers that be because there could be consequences or ramifications,” Cook said.

“They bring it to the Opposition, because our job is to hold the government to account. So with this information, we can bring these issues to light and demand action.”

The shortage was raised by Cook and Brandon West PC MLA Wayne Balcaen in question period on Thursday.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara responded in the legislature by blaming the PCs for its “abysmal” health-care record.

Balcaen said the health minister did not address any of the questions his party asked, which was worrisome he added.

“If somebody had a burst appendix or a bleed or something like that, there’s no immediate intervention for them,” Balcaen told the Sun.

“Or if a person was in critical condition and needed surgery, that puts the pressure on the ER staff to stabilize them, and then we’d have to rely on STARS (air ambulance) to transport the individual, and hopefully they make it to Winnipeg,” he said.

“So the worry is, will this happen more than just this one time? Will this become a weekly occurrence?”

No patient transfers took place during the 24-hour period without a surgeon at BRHC, Minister Asagwara told the Sun in an email Friday afternoon.

“Our first priority is always to find local coverage for Brandon, but contingency plans are in place to ensure patients continue receiving care,” Asagwara wrote.

“We know there are staffing shortages, and that’s why we’re actively recruiting and hiring to strengthen services in Brandon and across Manitoba.”

Asagwara pointed to the NDP government adding 10 new medical training seats in Brandon as part of its physician recruitment efforts, as well as working to update regulations to make it easier for internationally trained doctors to practice.

“These are concrete steps to build up the workforce and ensure patients in Brandon and the entire region get the care they need close to home,” Asagwara said.

Dr. Adrian Fung, vice-president of medical services and chief medical officer of Prairie Mountain Health, said the health authority is continuing to work on coverage for its surgical programming.

“This coverage planning occurs right up until the day of need,” Fung said in a statement to the Sun.

In mid-August, PMH was dealing with another doctor shortage. It sent out an “urgent” email to its physicians on a Wednesday, indicating that there were 10 vacancies from Thursday to Sunday for day, evening and night ER shifts. The shifts were filled.

In January, PMH put out an advisory alerting media about an impending 24-hour disruption in maternity services. It was avoided when two obstetricians from Winnipeg and two family physicians from rural Manitoba stepped forward to fill shifts.

The province is not following through with its campaign promise to fix health care, Cook said.

“If you look at a lot of metrics for how we measure outcomes in health care — things like wait times and vacancies, home care being thrown into a crisis — things are actively getting worse,” she said.

“So I think that’s what the minister needs to answer to.

“And in the case of the lack of general surgery on call in Brandon, that is something they should have seen coming. They should have been able to prevent it before it happened.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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