Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew greets candidates and supporters at the St. Boniface campaign office on provincial election day in Winnipeg, Man., Tuesday, October 3, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski)
WINNIPEG — St. Boniface Hospital will be the site of 36 new acute care beds, the province announced Wednesday.
Premier Wab Kinew says the investment is being made to help reduce wait times in the emergency room.
“Job number one for our government is to fix the staffing shortages – that means every investment we make to increase capacity in health care is done with staffing in mind,” said Kinew.
The new staffed medicine beds will open at St. Boniface Hospital in late March as a way to help transition emergency department patients into other areas of care.
“More inpatient capacity is a vital part of any effort to reduce waiting room times because it immediately frees up emergency department beds so that we can see and treat more incoming patients sooner,” added Dr. Paul Ratana, emergency department medical director, St. Boniface Hospital, and provincial specialty lead for emergency medicine.
Watch Wednesday’s announcement:
