CancerCare allegations need a thorough investigation

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/12/2024 (265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Doctors Manitoba is calling for an independent investigation into the operations of CancerCare Manitoba. We agree. The sooner it occurs, the better.

The group representing Manitoba’s physicians says that it became aware of concerns within CancerCare more than a year ago, and commenced a formal review of the agency’s operations this past September. A report detailing the results of the investigation were made public 10 days ago, and they are disturbing.

Based upon feedback from 57 physicians who are either working within CancerCare or previously worked with the agency, the investigation found that there were “serious concerns from a majority of physicians, concerns that require urgent attention to disrupt a workplace culture described by many physicians as toxic.”

The report includes the finding that “An over-arching sense of powerlessness and diminishing hope was evident in the submissions received,” and determined that complaints regarding burnout, heavy workloads, recruitment challenges, lacklustre communication, favouritism and distrust in the executive leaders were credible and widespread.

The document also says that several physicians shared serious allegations about inappropriate conduct by senior administration, which could include breaching the organization’s code of ethics. Those allegations have been referred to the office of the Manitoba Ombudsman for further investigation.

“Given the nature of these concerns and the level of distress among physicians about them,” the report states, “there is a need for a truly independent and impartial review.”

The next day after the release of the Doctors Manitoba report, nurses and other health workers joined the chorus of concern over what is happening at CancerCare. A nurse working with the agency in Winnipeg told our sister newspaper, the Winnipeg Free Press, that “Our workloads are so ridiculously heavy we cannot sustain them.”

Speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal, she described a work environment in which nurses are routinely brought to tears as they struggle against high patient loads and chronic turnover.

“We’ve been shouting really loud,” she said, “and we are getting nowhere.”

This is not a new problem. A recent news report revealed that a Jan. 17 letter to the CancerCare board, submitted by the Manitoba Nurses Union on behalf of approximately 300 nurses across all clinical departments in the agency, identified a 400 per cent increase in workload staffing reports, which track when a nurse has drawn management’s attention to an unsafe or potentially unsafe environment.

“This cannot continue,” the letter said. “We are concerned that critical incidents may occur involving patient care, and thus feel compelled to speak up.”

In almost any other instance, it would be easy to dismiss the concerns and grievances expressed by those working within the agency as simply the usual labour-management push-and-pull that often occurs in workplaces, but CancerCare Manitoba is no ordinary workplace.

It is the primary agency within our province for the care of those suffering from various forms of cancer. To say that lives depend upon the quality and effectiveness of its work is an understatement because it is absolutely true.

For that reason, credible allegations that CancerCare is mired in dysfunction and disarray — and that the situation is so toxic that doctors and nurses fear punishment if they speak up in a genuine effort to improve the situation — cannot be ignored. To the contrary, their concerns must be regarded with grave seriousness.

We have all been touched by cancer in some way. We all know the critical role of hope in fighting the disease; the importance of being confident the necessary level and quality of care will be available when it is needed. The recent reports regarding CancerCare have the potential to impair the hope and optimism many patients feel, and that could impact the ultimate outcome of their treatment.

Given that dire reality, the Manitoba government must take immediate steps to ensure that the troubling allegations regarding the operations of CancerCare throughout the province will be thoroughly reviewed by a credible and independent body, that the problems and their causes will be identified, and that long-term solutions will be implemented as quickly as possible. All of that must be done without delay.

Beyond that, the process must also be transparent. Manitobans are entitled to a clear and accurate explanation for what has happened at CancerCare, and an equally clear commitment that it will not happen again. Similarly, Westman residents must be reassured that the problems at CancerCare will not impact the operations of the expanded Western Manitoba Cancer Centre here in Brandon.

When it comes to cancer, time is always of the essence. That is certainly the case here. We urge the Manitoba government to move quickly to address and resolve this problem.