Making the most of our medical resources
Opinion
The thing about common sense, it is often said, is that it's not really all that common.
In life, and most certainly in politics, it's infallibly true that the path to accomplishing anything will almost never follow the simplest, most direct and most logical route. Decisions are the result of consultation, discussion and debate, and the inevitable insertion of competing interests and self-serving agendas into the collaborative process necessarily leads to compromises that complicate what was initially envisioned as a straightforward action to serve a very specific purpose.
In the end, the consensus solution might end up addressing a variety of individual needs without actually solving the problem at hand. As the old saying goes, a camel is a horse designed by a committee.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS files
Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara
Given this tendency toward legislative and bureaucratic encumbrance, it's both refreshing and encouraging to see government and service-providing agencies arrive at an action designed first and foremost to serve the greater public good, as seems to be the case in the decision to expand the powers and responsibilities of pharmacists in an effort to streamline Manitoba's chronically overburdened health-care system.
The province announced last week that beginning in July, pharmacists will be empowered to prescribe certain medications, including contraceptives and some HIV treatments, directly to clients. It's a common-sense initiative that will ease the administrative burden on doctors and allow patients to more easily access services that should not require a physician's sign-off.
'We've been waiting for this for a very long time,' said Pharmacists Manitoba board member Marianna Pozdirca. 'We have a health-care system that is strained and we have over 1,000 pharmacists in the province who are educated to do more than dispensing.'
While all pharmacists-in-training across Canada (except in Quebec) must complete the same standardized licensing exam, graduates in some other provinces — including Alberta and Saskatchewan — enter the profession with wider scopes of practice than pharmacists in Manitoba.
Manitoba, Ontario and the three territories are currently the only jurisdictions in Canada that do not allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control.
The change is overdue. As Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux (Tyndall Park) rightly pointed out, empowering pharmacists with expanded authority to prescribe should help to reduce wait times for patients seeking other services in clinics and hospital emergency rooms.
Tuesdays
A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world.
Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara called the change 'a very reasonable expansion of scope for pharmacists in Manitoba,' adding that it's important for those studying pharmacy in Manitoba to know they will, upon graduation, be able to practise to the full scope of their skills and abilities.
The bottom line is this: as was the case with expanding the responsibilities of nurse practitioners to include ordering and interpreting some diagnostic tests, prescribing medications and performing minor surgical procedures, any change that eases the burden on Manitoba's stretched-thin physician ranks should be given serious consideration.
Matters jurisdictional and budgetary will need to be ironed out, of course, but the process should be focused on removing barriers and improving access — particularly for those residing in rural or remote areas, and those who don't have a family doctor — rather than creating self-interest-driven impediments.
And as the government in this province — and, it seems, every other province — struggles in its ongoing and highly competitive effort to attract and retain physicians, those tasked with administering and funding the system should embrace opportunities to streamline and improve care whenever they present themselves.
In the race to provide Manitobans with the health care they deserve, the effort is better served by a horse than a camel.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba's regional authorities spent over $35M last year in the ongoing effort to keep hospital workers safe
Last Christmas Eve, a man walked into Thompson General Hospital with a loaded rifle concealed in his clothing. He moved through the emergency department and other areas — some full of patients — before taking an elevator to the second-floor chapel. No one knows how long the 33-year-old man was in the facility. He was discovered by a patient who wanted to use the chapel for prayer. The patient, hearing a commotion behind the locked doors, notified a nurse. Security was nowhere to be found. They showed up only after the gunman pointed the weapon at a nurse and fired a bullet through a window. The life-threatening scenario highlights a double-barrel dilemma facing Manitoba's health-care system: how much more needs to be spent on safety measures, which has already increased exponentially in recent years, and is what's already in place making a difference? The Northern Health Region, which oversees Thompson's hospital operations, earmarked $1.18 million for security measures last year, a tenfold increase from a decade ago. 'Our security officers that we have now are untrained, incompetent individuals,' said a Thompson nurse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In the last fiscal year, Manitoba's six regional health authorities spent a total of $35.4 million on security measures, according to freedom of information documents obtained by the Free Press. It's an expenditure that has been escalating over the last 10 years, according to the data received from each health authority, and includes equipment, call systems, staffing and contract costs for security guards. The breakdown for the RHAs — comparing spending in the 2014-2015 fiscal year to 2024-2025 — is as follows: • Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority jumped from $9,088 to more than $1.86 million. • Southern Health-Santé Sud increased from $336,911 to $1.51 million. • Prairie Mountain Health went from $678,485 to $4.69 million. • Northern Health climbed from $123,281 to $1.18 million; • Winnipeg RHA (excluding Health Sciences Centre) more than doubled from $5.26 million to $13.3 million. HSC spent $10.08 million in 2019-2020 and more than $12.8 million in 2024-2025 (only six years of data was provided for Manitoba's largest health-care facility). Experts and health officials say there are several reasons for the increase, notably enforcement of rules and restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic way in which hospitals and their staffs increasingly find themselves on the front line dealing with a variety of societal struggles. 'Higher rates of mental-health problems and addiction within our population have contributed to increases in incidents of violence and aggression in ERs and other health-care settings,' Prairie Mountain Health CEO Treena Slate said in a statement. As a result, the western Manitoba region expanded its security personnel numbers to monitor sites in Brandon, Dauphin, Virden and Russell. Cam Baldwin, the provincial protective services lead for Shared Health, attributed HSC's spending to methamphetamine and opioid-related behaviours and ailments, often encountered first by police and paramedics. 'The crimes that are being committed are often related to those dependencies and the resulting outcome of that is many of them need to be treated in hospitals,' Baldwin said in an interview. 'Unfortunately, that has created the requirement for additional security within the hospitals.' In February, the province installed AI-powered weapon detectors at three HSC entrances. The machines have detected 491 'potentially dangerous items,' such as knives thus far. BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS In February, the province installed AI-powered weapon detectors at three HSC entrances. BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS In February, the province installed AI-powered weapon detectors at three HSC entrances. The HSC campus also now employs 42 institutional safety officers, who are specially trained to restrain people and are armed with pepper gel. The province has safety officers — in addition to private security guards — stationed at St. Boniface Hospital, Victoria Hospital, Selkirk Regional Health Centre and Brandon Regional Health Centre. A spokesperson for Southern Health-Santé Sud said a formal security program for the region was not in place until 2019 when baseline funding was established. Prior to that, security was funded on an ad hoc basis. A representative of Interlake-Eastern Health said costs are a reflection of increasing use of contracted and on-staff security services in facilities 'where necessary.' Northern Health did not respond to questions regarding security costs. The pandemic exacerbated violence and security issues in health-care facilities everywhere, according to a U.S.-based security consultant and former security executive for AdventHealth, a faith-based hospital network in Florida. 'A lot of that was politically driven by masks and people not wanting to wear the mask, not necessarily for health reasons, but because they had a political spin on it,' Bill Marcisz said. 'You can imagine what happens when a loved one is passing away, or you want to go visit your son or daughter being born and you're not allowed in there.' Mental health, addictions and the stress that goes along with health care are all factors in security spending, he said, plus there has been a greater push for facilities to document incidents. As more cases are recorded, the need for security increases, Marcisz said. 'There's a lot of things that go into this,' he said. The president of the Manitoba Nurses Union agreed. 'The reality is that we've seen a lot of facilities that have become less of a strictly health-care facility… our emergency departments are seeing more and more individuals attending them because it's a safe place to be,' Darlene Jackson said. JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES 'A hospital health-care facility is really sort of a beacon of safety, so there are many issues that need to be dealt with,' says Darlene Jackson, President of the Manitoba Nurses Union. JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES 'A hospital health-care facility is really sort of a beacon of safety, so there are many issues that need to be dealt with,' says Darlene Jackson, President of the Manitoba Nurses Union. Jackson said nurses constantly tell her waiting rooms are used as makeshift shelters because homeless people either can't access a shelter due to barriers or capacity, or they don't feel safe. People often come in with minor ailments to exploit the health-care system's long wait times and spend the night in a secure building, Jackson said. 'A hospital health-care facility is really sort of a beacon of safety, so there are many issues that need to be dealt with. And until those issues are dealt with, I don't see how we can do anything else and just keep increasing security costs,' she said. 'The issue is not in our emergency department. It's beyond the doors of our emergency department.' Manitoba Health is aware some patients in ERs need alternative care and is working with Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith to redirect them to shelters and other organizations, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Thursday. Working with homeless shelters and non-profits, as well as building a supervised consumption site and sobering centre are part of the government's plan to address the issue, Asagwara said. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Health minister Uzoma Asagwara says institutional safety officers are on the way for Thompson. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Health minister Uzoma Asagwara says institutional safety officers are on the way for Thompson. 'Our priority is making sure that people have the ability to access the right care at the right place at the right time,' the minister said. 'We're working across government to make sure there are more appropriate places.' More social workers and safety officers in hospitals could also help address the issue, Asagwara said. Dan Nodrick, director of development at Siloam Mission, acknowledged that transient individuals are using health-care facilities as a safe haven or shelter and that the problem will persist without an influx of more affordable housing. Siloam's daily capacity is 143 people, but the organization stretches it to 147 nearly every day. 'Three years ago in the summertime there was always room in the shelter. We've been full for two years solid,' he said. The Thompson nurse and her colleagues have been begging health officials for the institutional safety officer program to be introduced at their hospital. Security personnel hired by the Northern Health Region don't have the ability to physically intervene, leaving many health-care workers vulnerable to violent incidents, she said. 'There's been many situations… security may come out of the office and ask me if I'm calling RCMP,' she said. 'It's often a common occurrence. 'With the multiple socioeconomic barriers and constraints in Thompson… personnel that can actually intervene appropriately, we may see a decrease in the violence that we experience every day.' Only a few days after the Christmas Eve incident, there was another frightening scene. After arriving by ambulance, a patient began hurling insults, racial slurs and threats at emergency department staff while clenching his fists. 'I stood up in front of the patient — I'm only five-foot-one — and I said, 'You are going to leave the facility and when you are ready to be respectful, you can come back,'' the nurse said. 'I'm surprised I didn't get in trouble with my employer; even though we have a zero-tolerance policy it is never enforced. We are almost expected to take the behaviour.' Asagwara said institutional safety officers are on the way for Thompson, but in the meantime, the province is looking at instituting a First Nations Safety Officer program, which will hire and train safety officers from the community to work alongside hospital security. 'Health-care workers should be able to go to work and feel safe and focus on providing the best patient care possible,' the minister said. 'So should patients and visitors.' On William Avenue earlier this week, just outside Winnipeg's downtown core, a security guard clad in a black-and-grey uniform stepped out into the evening sun from HSC's adult emergency department. She scanned the scene from left to right before taking a few steps to peek around each corner of the entrance, something that happens every 15 minutes. The HSC campus employs 42 institutional safety officers. The HSC campus employs 42 institutional safety officers. Check completed, she walked back inside, to a vestibule where her partner sat next to the AI-weapon detector. Similar, but smaller than more-familiar metal detectors used in other venues, the equipment is adorned with Shared Health's logo colours of orange, yellow, teal and green. Just beyond it, a metal-detecting wand sits on a desk with a security log book beside it. Signs at the entrance door warn visitors of the security checkpoint ahead. Hammers, guns and knives are not welcome inside but can be stored in provided amnesty lockers. 'Thank you for keeping this facility safe,' the sign states. Nicole BuffieMultimedia producer Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole. Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Cision Canada
2 days ago
- Cision Canada
The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS national Summit raises alarm about rising incidence of HIV in Canada and threats to global progress
Delegates call on Prime Minister to end the Canadian epidemic and lead the worldwide HIV response in light of dramatic US cuts to treatment and care VANCOUVER, BC, June 6, 2025 /CNW/ - The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) is hosting a national Summit of medical and HIV experts to raise the alarm about the rising incidence of HIV in Canada, the immense threat that US cuts to HIV programs pose to millions at risk of disease and death globally, and the need for Canadian leadership to help prevent a resurgence in HIV/AIDS. Despite the groundbreaking work done to implement the BC-CfE's Treatment as Prevention ® (TasP ®) and HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) programs in many jurisdictions, Canada is losing ground to HIV/AIDS across the country. The latest available government statistics for 2023 show a 35% uptick in HIV cases in Canada compared to 2022. Anecdotal discussions between BC-CfE and HIV experts across Canada indicate the situation continues to deteriorate, with HIV incidence statistics expected to be higher yet again in 2024 and in 2025. Meanwhile, the United States has substantially decreased funding to domestic programs currently supported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Medicare, and international programs supported by PEPFAR (the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and USAID. UNAIDS estimates another 6.6 million new HIV infections and 4.2 million AIDS-related deaths between 2025 and 2029 if US government cuts continue. At the National TasP Summit, Dr. Julio Montaner, BC-CfE Executive Director & Physician-in-Chief, called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to take the reins and redouble efforts to end the Canadian HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030, fully fund Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) and PrEP within a national pharmacare plan, and meet the UNAIDS 95-95-95 target for HIV testing, treatment and viral suppression. Meeting the UNAIDS targets * would result in a 90% reduction in HIV/AIDS-related deaths and new infections by 2030, ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a public health threat. "The Prime Minister has called for cost-effective, nation-building projects to improve the lives of Canadians and show leadership," said Dr. Montaner. "Redoubling efforts to defeat HIV/AIDS in Canada by 2030 fits the bill. It saves lives, prevents disease progression, improves quality of life and saves money. We have a plan. We need the Prime Minister's help to get it over the finish line." In addition, Canada must step up to better support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to provide much-needed international leadership in a renewed and reinvigorated fight against HIV/AIDS. Weakening global efforts for HIV prevention, treatment, and support are already having an impact in British Columbia and throughout Canada. Domestically, HIV prevention and treatment strategies have saved countless lives and dramatically improved the lives of people living with and at-risk of HIV. However, many of Canada's new HIV cases relate to domestic and international migration, demonstrating the need for federal unity in Canada's HIV response and better support for the Global Fund. "HIV does not respect provincial, Canadian or international borders," said Summit co-chair Dr. Val Montessori, BC-CfE Director of Clinical Education. "With new HIV diagnoses rising across Canada, the need is greater than ever to implement proven HIV prevention and treatment strategies. By working together, we can strengthen the national HIV response in Canada and around the world, improve the lives of people living with HIV, and prevent new cases." *About the UNAIDS 95-95-95 Targets Based on the Treatment as Prevention strategy developed by the BC-CfE, the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) set out ambitious targets in 2014 to end the AIDS epidemic globally by 2030. This culminated in the UN 95-95-95 Targets, which established that countries ensure 95% of people living with HIV are diagnosed, 95% of those diagnosed are on treatment, and 95% of those on treatment are virally suppressed, by the year 2025. Meeting the UN Targets would change the trajectory of the epidemic so that we would see a 90% reduction in HIV/AIDS related deaths and new HIV infections by 2030, which would herald the end of the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a public health threat. About the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) is Canada's largest HIV/AIDS research, treatment and education facility – nationally and internationally recognized as an innovative world leader in combating HIV/AIDS and related diseases. The made-in-BC Treatment as Prevention ® strategy (TasP ®) pioneered by BC-CfE, and adopted by UNAIDS since 2011, inspired the ambitious global target for HIV treatment – known as the United Nations' 90-90-90 Target by 2020 and current UN 95-95-95 Target by 2025 – to end AIDS as a pandemic by 2030. The BC-CfE is applying TasP ® to therapeutic areas beyond HIV/AIDS, including viral hepatitis and addiction, to promote Targeted Disease Elimination ® as a means to contribute to healthcare sustainability. The BC-CfE works in close collaboration with key stakeholders, including government, health authorities, health care providers, academics, and the community to decrease the health burden of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and addictions across Canada and around the world.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Nurse college must be able to pivot: health minister
Manitoba's health minister says the regulatory body for nursing is blocking internationally educated nurses who want to practise in the province and driving them away. 'What we're hearing from nurses — not just IENs but across the board — is that the college continues to be a barrier to nurses successfully joining the front lines and they're leaving Manitoba as a result, or not considering Manitoba as an option,' Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said late Thursday. The health minister was defending their directive that the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba stop requiring 'labour mobility applicants' have 450 hours of nursing experience in Canada over the past two years or 1,225 hours over the past five years. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara: 'If Manitoba wants to be competitive in the health care staffing market, we have to be willing to adapt and evolve.' In 2022, the Progressive Conservative government directed the college to stop requiring out-of-province applicants have recent Canadian experience. The college said it then tracked a significant increase in complaints about nursing incompetence linked to labour mobility applicants, and that two patients have died as a result. It cited complaints about a lack of nursing knowledge, skill and judgment, the inability to take or interpret vital signs, perform a health assessment, safely administer medication or prioritize patient care. In December, the college reinstated the requirement for nurses to have recent Canadian experience. Asagwara ordered the college to stop, saying it was breaking internal trade laws, including the Canadian Free Trade Agreement and the New West Partnership Trade Agreement's labour mobility rules, and legislation requiring regulated professions to ensure their registration practices comply with obligations of a domestic trade agreement. College registrar Deb Elias said Wednesday the province is putting labour mobility and its support for interprovincial free trade ahead of patient safety and lives. The health minister — who is also a registered psychiatric nurse — said the college's complaints have been taken 'very seriously'and 'immediate steps' were taken to keep patients safe. The province is working with regional health authorities and employers to make sure there are pathways for internationally educated nurses to get more support or resources so they can succeed as a nurse or elsewhere on the front line, said Asagwara. The minister said the college is also rejecting qualified nurses. 'We've heard from a number of nurses in the U.S., nurse academics, federal nurses who've been trying to get licensed in Manitoba to practise in nursing stations. We've heard of cases where nurses who practised in Manitoba for over 30 years — in one case, a nurse who practised for 35 years and was short one hour in her recency was denied a licence to return to the front lines as a recently retired nurse.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Asagwara said the health department's recruitment and retention office is triaging 'literally dozens of nurses who've come to us because they have not been supported by the college.' The minister said Manitoba has to be able to pivot. 'We have to be able to evolve. The college, I know, has historically been unwilling to do so. That's not the landscape of health care in Canada anymore,' Asagawara said. 'If Manitoba wants to be competitive in the health care staffing market, we have to be willing to adapt and evolve and meet the growing needs and economic realities.' Carol SandersLegislature reporter Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol. Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
