Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 12, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba A6 Winnipeg repress. Com Manitoba Winnipeg free 12, 2007 by Gabrielle Giro Day d ont expect severe problems reported at a Dauphin Hospital to end soon the Boss of the local health authority said tuesday after the Hospital was publicly maligned by the Manitoba nurses Union which represents about 150 staff members there. These Are Long standing things. What ism trying to avoid is talking about a Quick fix solution., Parkland regional health authority ceo Allan Bradley said tuesday. Its not a simple process of nurses saying Here Are problems please manage us go fix it. I dont think thatus a collegial Way or a respectful Way to work in the workplace he added. Manitoba nurses Union president Maureen Hancharyk said the Dauphin regional Heath Centre was Grey listed in an unanimous vote by the unions Board of directors late last month. Hancharyk said that designation Means the Union will discourage nurses from applying to work at the Dauphin Hospital due to ongoing complaints that Range from Short staffed elective surgeries to broken Call lights in the Hospital. Weave Only Ever Grey listed employers five times. So obviously its serious Hancharyk said. Its not something we do on a whim. The Union has 145 locals and Hancharyk said it was created 32 years ago. Nurses cant just come and say they dont like their employer and Grey list. There has to be an investigation done and there has to be documentation of their concerns she said. Hancharyk said nurses began approaching the Union with complaints More than a year ago that were followed up with meetings Between Union officials and health officials from the province. However As of november she said nurses reported to the Board there was Little Progress being made. This is not just 20 nurses coming Forward this is the majority of nurses working there that Are saying this is not a great place to work a Hancharyk said. The nurses Are More concerned for the safety of their patients than the risks they re putting themselves in. Staffing reports made by nurses about concerns Over patient care Are not heeded said Hancharyk. That puts patients in potentially unsafe situations she added. One of the issues nurses have complained about involves a makeshift room for emergency patients that fits three stretchers. Its in a former storage room and it lacks the space for a suctioning machine and an oxygen machine. As Well there Are two outstanding harassment complaints filed against Hospital managers. Bradley said an advisory Council made up of four managers and seven nurses from the Dauphin regional health Centre will work through problems. Bradley who began last april said hers interested in finding a series of solutions to address multiple problems but the process wont be Quick. When the nurses have Strong opinions and Strong views As they do now we want to make sure theress a Way for them to address them better than they have in the past. Dauphin regional health Centre is one of seven hospitals in the regional health authority. Tory health critic Kelvin Goertzen said hers heard similar complaints from nurses across Rural Manitoba who Are worried about unsafe working conditions and about too heavy workloads that put patients at risk. Nurses already have unlimited places they can go Goertzen said. This does not reflect Well on the facility or on the Job of nursing in general especially in Rural areas. He said its unusual for the nurses Union an ally of the nip government to Grey list a site. Gabrielle. Giro Day free press. My. Ca with files from Mary Agnes Welch by Mary Agnes Welch statistics Canada said tuesday that Manitoba ass debt increased More than any other provinces last year a Titbit that touched off another round of debt Roulette at the Manitoba legislature. Stats cans numbers show that the provinces net debt increased nearly four per cent Between 2005 and 2006. Thatus the he Tiest increase of any province. That had the nip disputing stats cans calculations while the tory opposition used the data to fuel Long standing criticism that the nip is letting debt and spending balloon. I see this As a danger signal said progressive conservative finance critic Rick Boro Tsik. We Are in the Best economic times weave Ever seen in Manitoba. What we should be doing is retiring debt. Boro Tsik said hers worried about an interest rate hike that would make the provinces debt a huge Burden. The provinces 2006 debt is about $ 9.6 billion up from about $ 7.6 billion when the nip took office in 1999. Finance minister Greg Selinger was in Ottawa for a meeting of the country is finance ministers tuesday. An nip spokesman said the provinces net debt has been on the decline every year since 2004. Stats cans figures dont jibe with Manitoba ass own data in part because the National Agency tweaks every provinces numbers to Correct for different sets of accounting methods. Manitoba just won a credit rating increase from Standard and poors which boosted the provinces Grade from a to a. And said the spokesman the province is tackling the looming problem of the unfunded teachers pension liability by spending $ 1.5 billion to close the Gap something that adds to the provinces debt. Net debt the figure Sta scan uses is not actual debt. Its an accounting term that takes into account a provinces washable assets and subtracts All debt. Like every province except Oil Rich Alberta Manitoba has More debt than Cash so the current net debt is about $ 11 billion. Maryagnes. Welch free press. My. Ca the complaints the Manitoba nurses Union said its members have these problems about working at the Dauphin regional health Centre. Patients Are being accepted without adequate staffing or Beds. Elective surgery is not being cancelled despite staffing shortages. Call lights on wards Are not working. Lack of orientation or mentoring of new nurses. Non clinical staff Are making clinical decisions. Inadequate attention to workload staffing reports that nurses fill out health care staffing Dauphin Hospital in sick Bay nurses province questions stats cans debt figures ;