More nurses quit Manitoba service for sexual assault victims amid ongoing staffing issues – Winnipeg

Another two casual nurses who collect evidence after sexual and domestic assaults in Manitoba have resigned.

Shared Health confirmed the resignations from the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, or SANE, program at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg late in the day Wednesday.

The news comes after four other SANE nurses quit Tuesday, resignations their union blamed on a lack of staffing and support.

Nurses working in the program first went public with concerns over staffing earlier this year.

2:34
Staffing issues still affecting care for sex, domestic assault victims in Winnipeg: nurse

The union has said that some victims were being told to come back later — and not shower in the interim — because no one was available to do examinations. Nurses have been overwhelmed and stretched thin, the union added.

Before the resignations, 13 casual nurses were working with the program which serves the entire province.

In April Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced $640,000 to hire five full-time forensic nurse examiners for the program, including a provincial coordinator.

As of Wednesday six of seven new permanent positions have been filled, but many of those workers have yet to complete their training.

2:09
Dozens turned away after sex, domestic assaults in Winnipeg, jeopardizing criminal cases: nurses

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson has said the nurses reached a breaking point with how the program was being run.

“It is very unfortunate that these nurses advocated as fiercely as they did for a program that they clearly are invested in to have seen no meaningful changes from their advocacy,” Jackson said in a statement following the first resignations Tuesday.

On Tuesday Gordon said she holds health leaders accountable for the trouble.

Officials at the Health Sciences Centre have said they are looking to fill work schedules soon, partly by having physicians pitch in. They are also training new workers to fill the remaining permanent positions.

— with files from The Canadian Press

1:52
Concern over staffing for sexual assault program at HSC

&copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.