'Stretched pretty thin': Hospitals operating overcapacity taking its toll, nurses union says

Winnipeg hospitals consistently operating well overcapacity is stretching nurses thin, the nurses union says.

According to numbers from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, VictoriaGeneral Hospital, St.Boniface Hospitaland Concordia Hospital have operated at over 100 per cent capacity.

Sandi Mowat, Manitoba Nurses Union president, said that although beds can be found for patients, finding staff to take care of them is more difficult.

"The physical space is usually adequate, it's the staffing which is the problem," she said. "There's any number of facilities that could open up beds if they had the staff to do so and we are stretched pretty thin."

Numbers from WRHA's weekly patient flow charts between August and September 2015 show that Victoria General consistently had occupancy between 101 and 106 per cent when it came to medicine and family medicine beds. At St. Boniface, occupancy was consistently around 110 per cent.

"[That's] requiring increased staffing and so there's challenges with getting nurses to work and there has been an increase in overtime," Mowat said. "Some of that is mandatory overtime so certainly nurses, you know, can become very tired."

Mowatsaid the WRHA has been looking at ways to improve the numbers, but change is slow.

WRHA'looking at everything' to improve capacity issues

Lori Lamont, WRHA vice president, said they are aware thatcapacity issues are putting pressure on staff.

"Certainly our system is operating at very high capacity and we recognize the challenges that poses for our staff in the system," she said. "But also, more importantly, that it poses in terms of access for people."

She said there have been improvements in the first quarter of this year, but it is still an issue, especially at St. Boniface, which is the cardiac care centre for the province.

"We need to continue to look at are there other options for maybe some of the services that are currently being provided at St.Boniface to be provided elsewhere," Lamont said.

Lamont said the overcapacity is having a trickle down effect, impacting wait times for emergency rooms. She said the WRHA is looking at everything from more care homes to streamlining systems to reduce the numbers.