Nursing crunch could close ERs, says union

ERs in Dauphin and Swan River could face temporary closures due to the cancellation of most private nursing agency contracts in the province, the Manitoba Nurses Union says.

Both hospitals are already dealing with increased staff shortages after the provincial government’s move to only four nursing agencies came into effect Thursday.

The two hospitals are struggling to find coverage, MNU president Darlene Jackson said Thursday.

“What we’re seeing is employers are really having difficulty staffing in those areas because they’re not able to use those agency nurses,” she said.

“This is something that could have been avoided, but it wasn’t.”

Depending on whether there’s any uptake on Prairie Mountain Health’s requests for nurse coverage, the two ERs, typically open 24-7, may face temporary closures and divert people to the nearest ER, Jackson said.

“Unfortunately, it could (happen) and I think for the community, it would be very upsetting to have that happen,” she said.

A spokesperson for Prairie Mountain Health said in a statement that the Swan River and Dauphin hospital ERs are not expected to temporarily close.

The Dauphin Regional Health Centre, Swan Valley Health Centre and the hospital in Powerview-Pine Falls are all “heavily” dependent on agency nurses, Jackson said.

She said she’s hearing from nurses in Dauphin that say 50 per cent of their staff are agency nurses in at least one unit — a major red flag.

“I think we’re just going to have to wait and see how this plays out. I certainly don’t want to see emergency departments closed.”

The province announced last week that the number of private nursing agencies, which filled vacant shifts at hospitals across the province, was being drastically reduced.

Elite Intellicare Staffing, Integra Health, Bayshore HealthCare and Augury Healthcare were selected to offer privatized services in Manitoba through a competitive bidding process.

Shared Health previously said each regional health authority would have contracts with a primary, secondary and tertiary agency and would reach out to approved agencies when a nursing shift needs to be filled.

Augury Healthcare is the primary agency for Prairie Mountain Health, followed by Elite Intellicare Staffing and Integra Health.

The health authority offers shifts to staff on site before reaching out to agency nurses, Shared Health said. Nurses can only work for one private agency at a time.

Jackson said the Manitoba government issued a request for proposals in December 2024 because the costs to fund private for-profit nursing agencies was “growing exponentially.”

Data from Shared Health shows the province has spent a total of $287.8 million on private agencies in the last five years, with costs rising from $26.9 million in 2020-21 to $80 million in 2024-25.

Last year, the province ordered Prairie Mountain Health to cut its spending on private agency nurses by 15 per cent before March 2026 after its spending soared to $35 million in 2024-25 from $8.1 million in 2020-21.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara has previously said the region has managed to cut agency costs by 14 per cent so far.

Prairie Mountain Health CEO Treena Slate said the region continues to experience staffing pressures due to vacancies.

“As part of its recruitment strategy, PMH has been actively engaging with agency nurses currently working in its facilities, encouraging them to transition into permanent roles within the region,” Slate said in a statement.

The province’s reliance on short-term agency staffing didn’t resolve staffing pressures and often disrupted the continuity of care and workplace stability, a spokesperson for Asagwara said Thursday.

“It’s important to note that these challenges existed before the transition away from widespread agency use,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“This transition is intended to address staffing challenges more sustainably by strengthening the public workforce.”

The provincial travel nurse team has expanded from 280 nurses in December 2024 to 555 nurses as of Dec. 31 and continues to actively recruit, the spokesperson said.

The union warned the government that its plan to cut ties with more than 70 private agencies wouldn’t work if the provincial travel nurse team wasn’t properly equipped to welcome an influx of agency nurses, Jackson said.

Onboarding for agency nurses making the switch to the float pool takes about three weeks, she said, and this doesn’t include the time it takes to review applications, check references and complete interviews.

“We want the provincial travel nurse team nurses onboarded correctly, so that when they are out there, they are comfortable providing the care that our patients in those areas need,” she said.

Jackson said these issues should have been addressed more than a year ago and the union would like to see the government more committed to collaboration.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com