St. Boniface Hospital is officially being grey listed by the Manitoba Nurses Union (MNU). Back in February, nurses voted 94 per cent in favour of grey listing the hospital, which means it has been declared unsafe by the nurses and they advise other nurses not to work there. However, the union said they didn’t activate the listing until now, as they tried to work with executives at the hospital to improve conditions. “For nearly a year now the executive over there was working with leadership to see improvements. Unfortunately, there was not enough action compared to discussion and the worksite felt they had no other option,” a spokesperson for the union said in an emailed statement to CTV News. St. Boniface Hospital becomes the fourth hospital in the province to be grey listed, joining Seven Oaks Hospital, Thompson General Hospital and the Health Sciences Centre. “Nurses are fed up. They’ve raised the alarm. They’ve waited for action. They’ve had enough,” the union wrote in a social media post announcing the grey listing. MNU said some improvements have been made after working with the hospital’s executive, but not enough to prevent the grey listing from happening. “Last week, a nurse reported that four admitted patients were placed in a hallway near the new Rapid Assessment Zone—with no curtains for patient privacy, no nearby bathroom facilities, and concerns about access to oxygen and suction. And worse, when a nurse asks, ‘What’s the plan? Where are the resources?’ they’re told to figure it out. In this case, nurses ultimately secured the equipment they needed,” the union said in its post. “Grey listing sends a clear message: nurses cannot keep absorbing the failures of this system while waiting for meaningful change.” In a letter to staff from the hospital executive team, they said they have heard the concerns that are being raised. “We want everyone to know we will continue to work towards improving both patient safety and staff safety regardless of any designation. This is work that does not end, as we continuously seek to make improvements to keep everyone safe onsite, and to ensure the best-possible patient care,” the letter reads. CTV News has reached out to the health minister for comment.
