Province hires 17 psychiatrists to work in Winnipeg, Selkirk

SELKIRK — The province has hired 17 psychiatrists this year in an attempt to alleviate pressure on hospital emergency rooms.

Premier Wab Kinew said Friday people suffering mental-health crises are ending up in emergency rooms all too often because they have nowhere else to turn.

“Whatever mental health care looks like for you and your family, your journey is going to be supported by these 17 net new psychiatrists,” Kinew said at a news conference outside Selkirk Mental Health Centre.

Of the 17 psychiatrists, 14 will work primarily in Winnipeg and three at the Selkirk facility.

“There’s plenty more work that needs to be done, but I think everybody in Manitoba recognizes that health care — and mental health in particular — needs more attention, needs more investment,” Kinew said.

The additions increase capacity to assess and treat more patients, strengthen access to psychiatric care across the system and help reduce pressure on emergency departments, the premier noted.

The province’s mental health lead said the new doctors will help people get critical mental health support sooner.

“This has huge implications and tremendous benefits in reducing wait times,” said Dr. James Bolton, the provincial medical specialty lead, mental health and addictions, with Shared Health.

“The more specialists you have working means that our waitlists are going to get smaller and people are going to be seen faster.”

Bolton said patients suffer when mental health conditions go untreated for long periods of time.

“When you’re talking about not being able to access mental health care for months — or even years in some jurisdictions — things like depression, anxiety and psychosis take hold and really derail a person’s life,” he said.

“The faster you get somebody into the treatment, the more success you’re going to have into conquering that illness and getting them back to a functional life.”

The psychiatrists will work across hospital and community-based mental-health services, supporting assessment, treatment and followup care for Manitobans with a range of mental health needs.

“This is the place where I started my career here as a psychiatric nurse,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said during the announcement at Selkirk Mental Health Centre. “This is about helping more Manitobans to get the specialized care they need.”

The doctors bring a range of expertise, including in child and adolescent and geriatric psychiatry, while filling many of the vacancies that existed across the system, the province said.

Several of the psychiatrists hired this year trained in Manitoba, where residency opportunities provide experience across urban, rural and northern communities, and expose physicians to a range of psychiatric practice.

Dr. Kylee Lewis, who has returned to work at the Selkirk facility following maternity leave, was one of the new placements.

“During residency, I put down roots here, including starting a family, but just as importantly, I grew to love working within Manitoba’s health-care system,” Lewis said.

Now working alongside many of her mentors, Lewis said the welcoming community has resonated strongly with her and there’s “something very meaningful about being able to give back to the health-care community that helped train you.”

The psychiatrist said having more doctors on staff will result in better care and happier workers.

“The challenges are various,” she said. “Some of the ones that occur when there is a staffing shortage is burnout amongst physicians.”

She said that means doctors work extra on-call shifts and outside their full-time hours to fill gaps in the system.

“That is the biggest impact we see when we have a fully staffed hospital, is just being able to cover each other for vacation and be able to take that much needed time off,” Lewis said. “Because we all work in mental health and know how important that is.”

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files from Carol Sanders