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Winnipeg Free Press
6 days ago
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Optometrists refuse to treat urgent cases over fee dispute with province
Manitoba optometrists have been refusing to handle urgent cases out of frustration with the provincial government, which hasn't signed a deal with them in years. Since March, the optometrists have referred all non-routine eye care cases, as well as patients who had surgery within the past three weeks, to the Misericordia Eye Clinic. They've been directed to do so by the Manitoba Association of Optometrists. The result is that Manitobans are taking the brunt of the job action because the clinic has become jam-packed with patients, forcing the clinic to scramble and enlist the help of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to find more staff. PAT MCGRATH / FREE PRESS FILES Since March, Manitoba optometrists have been refusing to handle all non-routine eye care cases out of frustration with the provincial government, which hasn't signed a deal with them in years. PAT MCGRATH / FREE PRESS FILES Since March, Manitoba optometrists have been refusing to handle all non-routine eye care cases out of frustration with the provincial government, which hasn't signed a deal with them in years. 'Patients are who the system is intended to serve and they are the most vulnerable,' said Winnipegger Mike Ellery, who learned about the labour dispute. The optometry services contract expired on March 31, 2019, during the third year of the Pallister government. Ellery admits he was confused when, back in May, his optometrist sent him to the Misericordia Eye Clinic for an issue when he had been treated for the same condition by that specialist a few years earlier. Ellery said there were so many patients waiting when he went in to the clinic one morning that, after he was not seen by the afternoon, he had to leave. He returned the next day and was treated. He said he wasn't the only one who left without being seen by an optometrist. 'Patients are who the system is intended to serve and they are the most vulnerable.'–Mike Ellery But Ellery said, before returning to the clinic, he spoke to the president of the association who confirmed job action was being taken. He said Dr. Averi Van Dam told him that optometrists had gone six years without a contract. 'I also learned that optometrists get paid shockingly little for providing urgent care and they have had no opportunity to renegotiate their contract.' Ellery said he told the association president it was not only 'inexcusable' for the province not to renegotiate a new contract, but the association's job actions were also 'both irresponsible and ineffective.' He said he hoped now that the public knows what is going on, the situation will be resolved. 'Avoiding harms to patients must always be our top priority… now that the secret's out, maybe we can all start the work needed to heal the desperately unwell health care system for which we are responsible.' Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. The association did not provide a statement about the contract issue before deadline, despite being told the government response and being sent a list of questions about the dispute. A Doctors Manitoba spokesman said physicians are concerned about the ongoing dispute and the effect on patients. 'We understand optometrists are withholding certain services from patients while they seek a new contract, and we're hearing from physicians who have seen more patients seeking urgent care for eye issues, and longer wait times too,' the spokesman said, adding it's hoped the two sides can resolve the dispute quickly so care can be restored. Mike Deal / Free Press files Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara. Mike Deal / Free Press files Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara. Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the government 'has been actively working with optometrists over the past several months. 'The previous government refused to even take a meeting with optometrists and this understandably caused frustration,' Asagwara said in a statement. The minister said the contract covers optometric services, including eye exams and post-operative care, with optometrists being paid with a set tariff per service. As well, they said optometrists can also bill third-party insurers for additional services. 'We are aware of the increased demand for same-day eye care services at the Misericordia Eye Centre,' Asagwara said. 'In response, the WRHA has implemented temporary solutions, including reallocating staff and bringing in additional physicians.' Noah Schultz, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition, said patients can't afford more delays. 'We're in a system-wide staffing and physician crisis in Manitoba health care,' Schulz said. 'We need more health care professionals across the board, including specialists like optometrists and ophthalmologists. Patients in Manitoba already face year-long wait lists for essential procedures like cataract surgery. 'The previous government refused to even take a meeting with optometrists and this understandably caused frustration.'–Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara 'This puts Manitobans on such wait lists at risk and weakens trust in public health care.' Schulz said Manitobans need quicker health care, not delayed. 'Eye care is health care and should be accessible to all Manitobans,' he said. 'We need expanded, fully public eye care services, and must push governments to provide more access, not less.' While Progressive Conservative Health critic Kathleen Cook didn't address the lack of contract negotiations during the previous Tory government, she took aim at the current government for not settling it. 'Over the last two years, Manitobans and health care professionals alike have been increasingly disappointed by the NDP's broken promises,' Cook said. 'Optometrists are joining other health care providers, from home care attendants to nurses, who have found that the NDP's words don't always match their actions. She said she had written to Asagwara twice to work with the optometrists association and resolve the dispute. Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin 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.
Winnipeg Free Press
7 days ago
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Home-care scheduling chaos worsening, overwhelmed staff say
Home care workers feeling overwhelmed and burned out because of heavy caseloads say leadership's response to a recent Free Press report on the city's centralized scheduling office only intensified the pressure on staff over the past weekend. 'Expectations are already way too high, and they constantly ignore our concerns,' said one employee, who asked not to be identified, fearing the consequences of speaking out. 'The direction on Friday was to fill all of the calls for the weekend by Friday at 4 p.m., which is impossible.' The employee, whose position is being withheld to protect their identity, said that between Friday and Sunday, more than 2,100 scheduled visits by nurses and health-care aides were cancelled with notice. That figure represented about a quarter of the visits that were expected to go unfilled late last week. Internal data showed more than 8,660 visits were at risk of being unassigned heading into the weekend. The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said Tuesday that 727 visits were cancelled on Saturday, while another 782 were shelved Sunday — significantly lower than figures from late last week. Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Tuesday that the lower total of missed visits came after the WRHA was told last week to remedy the situation. Asagwara said they are also working quickly to bring more 'expertise' to look at the system and recommend changes. 'A fresh set of eyes,' Asagwara said, adding those people could be installed within days. Some of the experts will include front-line workers, including nurses and health-care aides, who Asagwara called 'rock stars' in wanting to provide the best possible care for clients. They will work closely with WRHA leadership and the province, the minister said. However, Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook said Tuesday it's safe to say that enough time has passed to indicate the switch to a centralized scheduling office hasn't worked. 'It's been four months since they rolled it out… and I think it's incumbent on the minister to say they tried something and it didn't work and maybe it's time to revert back to the old scheduling system,' Cook said, adding she has heard similar concerns from nurses and health-care aides, and raised them during question period in April, only to be told by Asagwara that she was fear-mongering. 'Worse, they assured Manitobans these issues were being addressed and resolved very, very quickly. We now know that was not the case. These problems persist. If the scheduling system is the problem, let's fix it.' Asagwara shot back, saying it was under the former Tory government that the 2023 death of cancer patient Katherine Ellis, who was incorrectly classified and denied timely home care, led to a review. That review produced 21 recommendations, including the shift to a centralized scheduling office. The WRHA centralized its home-care scheduling system in March, in an effort to improve communication, workload and client support. The overhaul has been harshly criticized by workers, who have complained of long wait times in contacting the central office. 'The critic has a short memory, and would do well to understand where this rollout came from,' Asagwara said. 'I think it's incredibly disingenuous of the health critic to comment on a system that is a direct result of the PCs' failings.' On Tuesday, two employees told the Free Press that leadership pushed staff, including resource co-ordinators, to work additional hours. While staff were previously only permitted to take on full shifts, management reportedly said they could now pick up partial hours to help manage the growing backlog. 'Their desperation was showing,' one employee said. Added another: 'They wanted them to ensure that visits were covered until the following Wednesday, which is hard to do when you're already trying to cover thousands of visits that are for the same day and next day.' While leadership was physically present at the office over the weekend, employees said they didn't check in to offer help or support. 'Their presence is being received as an intimidation factor; that we must be on our best behaviour while they are here,' an employee who worked the weekend said. 'Our breaks were also scheduled for the first time since moving here, which makes us feel like children who have to be constantly micromanaged.' Looking ahead to the upcoming weekend, internal data shows 8,152 home-care visits — affecting 2,860 clients — remain unfilled for Saturday and Sunday. The WRHA, which oversees about 16,500 home visits daily, has said those numbers are fluid and often fluctuate up to the day of service. Their latest seven-day average for cancelled visits, they said last week, was 3.7 per cent. Meanwhile, a new voicemail system meant to prioritize urgent calls has been rolled out haphazardly, employees say. 'Nurses and health-care aides are leaving messages on the wrong line, and they are also scheduling people to only answer phone calls for the entirety of their shift,' one said. 'It seems their general response to the health minister's questions is to offer as much overtime as people want and put increased pressure and blame on the schedulers who are already burned out from working as hard as we can with the limited number of staff we have. 'This is not sustainable. The mood in the office is toxic, people are struggling with their mental and physical health, and we are tired of coming into work each day feeling like things will continue to get worse.' 'The pressures are high,' another employee said. 'The expectations are high. The support is low, and the wild thing is that they tell us that we should be 'fully staffed' now, but then post over 50 available shifts for the weekend… if we had enough staff, we would not be needing to post that many available shifts for office staff.' Scott BilleckReporter Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade's worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott. Every piece of reporting Scott 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.
Winnipeg Free Press
15-07-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Missed visit ‘can be a life and death thing'
The DAUGHTER of a woman living in a Winnipeg assisted-living facility is raising concerns after a mixup at home care's new centralized scheduling office nearly caused her mother to miss essential medication. Koralee Nickarz, who lives in Vancouver but returns to Winnipeg every six weeks to visit her mother, 82-year-old Paulette Nickarz, said that had she not been in town last week, her mother would have missed critical nighttime medications. Her mother's regular bedtime worker didn't show up, and no replacement had been arranged. Nickarz said she had to call home care's after-hours line to find out if a worker was still coming. She eventually learned that the scheduled aide had left to tend to a family emergency. JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Koralee Nickarz, with her mother Paulette, is concerned centralized scheduling is putting her mom's life in danger. 'No one knew because the home-care worker could not get through to the scheduling office. And she didn't have the time to wait on hold.' Nickarz said a customer service representative later told her that some aides had waited up to five hours on hold or for a callback that same day. 'Before moving to the centralized office, scheduling used to call me when they did not have a worker,' Nickarz said. 'Now, no worker shows up. Or they send someone at whatever time they can find someone for my mother's timed medication.' The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority centralized its home-care scheduling operations in late March, at a single location on Sutherland Avenue. The move was intended to address issues with communication, service inconsistency and workload. In a Jan. 23 memo introducing the changes, the WRHA said the move was also prompted by a review following the 2023 death of cancer patient Katherine Ellis who died after being misclassified and denied timely care. At the time, nurses described the rollout as rushed and chaotic, saying it disrupted care and overwhelmed staff. Some reported insulin-dependent clients had gone hours without medication, while others noted overlapping shifts or being dispatched to unfamiliar areas, causing further delays and cancellations. Nickarz said health-care aides she's spoken to have described the new system as a 'shit show.' She fears the consequences of delayed care for her mother, who has Parkinson's and requires medication at strict intervals. 'She has to take her Levodopa… every four hours,' Nickarz said. 'If she doesn't get it on time, she has a really hard time walking. And if she gets up, it's likely that she will fall. If she gets her Levodopa less than four hours apart, it can cause nausea, dizziness and confusion, which makes it more likely she could fall.' Her mother receives eight visits per day, including four for medication. Under the previous system, Nickarz said she would receive notice of care disruption a few days in advance. Now, she said, no one informs her if no one is coming — and staff at the assisted-living facility are not permitted to administer medications. A WRHA spokesperson said last week that the centralized scheduling office continues to improve service for both clients and staff. They noted that the average wait time for staff calling the office is currently 9 minutes and 20 seconds. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. 'We recognize there are periods when wait times may be longer, and we remain committed to reducing them,' the spokesperson said. They also pointed to recent changes, including new escalation pathways for urgent issues, a voicemail system for staff unable to work, and a pilot system to fill open shifts more efficiently. 'When changes to a client's schedule are necessary due to staffing, the scheduling office will reach out to the client or their primary contact to ensure they are informed and that backup care plans are in place,' the spokesperson said. Nickarz remains skeptical. 'It can be a life and death thing, because we know what happens with seniors when they fall — they can die,' she said. Scott BilleckReporter Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade's worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott. Every piece of reporting Scott 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.
CTV News
25-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Winnipeg lacks staffing, resources to deal with hoarding: report
The City of Winnipeg lacks the staffing and resources to deal with the problem of hoarding, finds a new report. According to the city document, Winnipeg has been working to address hoarding for more than three years. This involved the creation of a task force and a triage group, which include representation from Winnipeg police, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS). Through these initiatives, the task force worked to manage hoarding cases and referred those in need to the proper resources, particularly to community crisis workers. However, the report noted, community crisis workers can no longer help with this project due to other work commitments, which has led to a major dip in the number of cases the city is handling. 'As a result, promotion of the hoarding referral service and interactions with referrals has been at a minimum until new resources can be identified,' the report said. 'There are still no resources available with the appropriate skillset to meet and work with referred individuals.' Hoarding, as characterized by the American Psychiatric Association, is the persistent difficulty of getting rid of possessions due to a perceived need to save them. The report notes the behaviour is linked to 'complex' mental health concerns that often require intensive support. 'These supports do not exist currently within the city,' the report stated. 'Further, as identified through the work of the Taskforce and the Triage Group, needed services are also limited in community or have significant wait times.' The report will be discussed at a meeting of the standing policy committee on community services on July 2.
CTV News
17-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Doctors Manitoba issues new guidance in bid to end sick notes
Doctors Manitoba has launched a campaign to call for the end of sick notes, saying the move would reduce unnecessary medical visits and free up care for those in need. On Tuesday, the organization announced its 'Sick of Sick Notes' campaign, which includes guidance for employers, a new website, and a social media video. As part of this guidance, Doctors Manitoba suggested that employers remove sick notes as a requirement, update contracts and employee handbooks, and implement alternatives to manage absenteeism. Additional guidance and resources will be added to the campaign's website in the future. The organization noted that some employers, including Canada Life and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, have already eliminated sick note requirements for short-term illnesses, adding that ending the practice would free up more than 300,000 appointments per year at doctors' offices and emergency rooms. 'Many visits to get a sick note are actually medically unnecessary, with no symptoms to verify and no new medical care required,' said Dr. Nichelle Desilets, president of Doctors Manitoba. 'Those visits cost taxpayers about $8 million per year. In other words, we are all paying for sick notes, whether it's through our taxes or by waiting longer for the care that we need to seek.' CTV News reported last year on a Doctors Manitoba report that called for major changes to the way sick notes are issued in the province, saying they are a waste of time. According to the report, over 600,000 sick notes are requested each year, which results in 36,000 hours of physician time. Doctors Manitoba recently submitted recommendations to the provincial government, calling for regulatory changes. 'Manitoba is one of only two provinces in Canada that hasn't taken any legislative action to limit the use of sick notes,' Desilets said. 'We've consulted with hundreds of employers, and we've heard a strong, consistent message that is that they want to be on a level playing field.' CTV News reached out to the province for more information. • With files from CTV's Charles Lefebvre.
