Nurses union complains after visitors at Seven Oaks Hospital circumvent rules

The Manitoba Nurses Union says visitors are circumventing rules at Seven Oaks General Hospital, adding stress to front-line workers who are already under immense pressure as beds fill up with patients.

When the province announced new pandemic restrictions for Winnipeg on Oct. 30, Shared Health's Chief Nursing Officer Lanette Siragusa said visitation to inpatients would be suspended with exceptions for end-of-life care, births and pediatrics.

"We encourage virtual visits, phone calls, and we must emphasize that this is essential to protecting our most vulnerable population. It's not forever, but it's necessary right now," she said at the time.

That position was outlined in a government document and shared with staff at Seven Oaks General Hospital, but CBC News has learned visitors continue to enter the hospital despite the restriction. 

"It's disappointing that information provided publicly by government differs from Shared Health policies," said Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson.

"Clear communication of policy requirements and expectations is absolutely critical to ensuring they can be enforced effectively."

Shared Health pointed CBC to its visitation policy online Sunday. It says for most inpatients, visitors should not be permitted.

However, if a patient's length of stay reaches 14 days and discharge is unlikely in the next 72 hours, one visitor can see the person for the remainder of their stay in hospital.

Sometimes those visitors don't abide by public health rules, though.

Jackson said nurses have seen some visitors at Seven Oaks breaking COVID-19 rules that require proper mask use for example. 

"We have been advised of incidents where visitors have circumvented visitor protocol policies," she said.

"We're calling on health officials and government to step up security and enforcement measures at Seven Oaks and other facilities so that policies are consistently and universally enforced."

Jackson said nurses understand the hardships visitor restrictions can have on patients and their loved ones, but said the policies are "absolutely necessary" right now.

"Given the very high case numbers in Manitoba, the high number of outbreaks we're seeing in health facilities across the province, and the rising number of infections and deaths associated with them, we call on the province to consider tightening visitor restrictions."