Svjetlana mlinarevic

Svjetlana Mlinarevic

Herald Leader

Oct. 9, 2013

 

Expectant mothers in the area can breathe a sigh of relief, as they no longer have to go to Winnipeg or Brandon to deliver their babies.

 

The Portage and District Hospital (PDGH) has reopened their obstetrics unit full-time once again after filling almost all nursing positions.

 

“This is good news,” said Jim Hunter, vice-president of human resources for Southern Health-Santé Sud.

 

“It means we’re able to continue a service that we should have in this area. Hopefully without interruptions and hopefully for the foreseeable future,” he added.

 

There are a total of 26 nursing positions in the unit of which 20 are RN and LPN positions.

 

“Two positions are vacant so it’s not fully staffed, but it’s 95 per cent staffed,” said Hunter.

 

To operate at full capacity, the hospital needs 130 nurses (80 registered nurses and 50 licensed practical nurses). At its lowest point, the facility was operating at a 15 per cent vacancy rate. In July, Hunter told The Graphic an appropriate (hospital) vacancy rate should be around five per cent. The RHA looked at rehiring retired nurses to make up for vacancies, only to find that almost 40 per cent had already returned to their former workplaces.

 

Hunter said the measures the hospital took in dealing with this year’s obstetrics shortage – only opening the unit on alternating weeks and informing the public of those closures over the past eight months – was well thought out.

 

“I can’t say enough to the staff there – the doctors especially as well as the union and the managers. They’re all involved in the plan and it got us through the summer and things worked out as we hoped, which is excellent,” he said.

 

The RHA has been trending the decline of nurses for a number of years in the region. In 2004, the health authority recorded a labour force of 500 with about eight to 10 vacancies; that number now stands at 61 vacancies, of which four are for Portage Hospital.

 

Portage and District General Hospital has 88 beds and serves more than 50,000 people.