Number of patient transfers dropping, but families say Manitobans shouldn't face this practice

In another sign of COVID-19's diminishing presence in Manitoba, the province's hospitals are transferring fewer patients to health-care facilities far from their home communities and loved ones.

Shared Health says 13 patients were sent outside their regional health authority in the first week of February and 16 patients were transferred the following week.

Those are the lowest weekly numbers since October 2021, when the protocol to transfer patients away from their homes took effect.  

"It's an encouraging trend," Dr. Kristjan Thompson, the president of Doctors Manitoba, said, "but again, this is a scenario that just shouldn't happen.

"If you were to set out and design a health-care system, I don't think anybody would design a process whereby an individual who might be elderly, who might have many chronic illnesses, who might have cognitive impairment is taken hundreds of kilometres away from their loved ones and their families."

The health system was forced to transfer patients beginning last November to make room for an expected surge in COVID-19 patients, as well as other people with medical issues.

As of Wednesday morning, 284 patients have been transferred, with the vast majority of them — 239 — having left Winnipeg hospitals.

The highest number of transfers happened the week of Dec. 20 when 57 patients were ushered to another facility. There were also two weeks in December and two weeks in January with more than 40 transfers apiece.

In various media stories, the families impacted by these transfers have decried the practice, which whisked patients — many of them seniors — away from their support network, and sometimes with little warning.

Melissa Carter's father Elias Apalit was transferred from Winnipeg to Minnedosa almost three weeks ago.

Her mother and father were together for 51 years, and have been separated by forces out of their control. It's left Apalit, who has advanced dementia, struggling to understand what's happening, Carter said.

"When you're actually living it and going through it, it almost seems unreal that that this could be happening and that this is how we are treating people who need care, and in our case, a senior citizen and someone who has dementia."

Carter said the family is taking a financial hit. Apalit's wife, Florinda, is spending the week in Minnedosa, where she's spent more than $1,000 on accommodations, groceries and cab fares. Shared Health says it will reimburse families with these costs, but the Apalits' expenses may exceed the provincial cap.

Carter said she's pleased to find the number of patient transfers declining, but the fact it is still happening is distressing.