The Manitoba Multiple Sclerosis Clinic is on the verge of collapse and could be forced to close over the next three months, a doctor who runs neurological services at Winnipeg Hospital warned on Thursday.
Dr Dan Roberts, a professor at the University of Manitoba School of Medicine, said neurological services for patients with stroke and epilepsy were also at risk.
Roberts convened a press conference “out of desperation” to warn the public about the shortage in Manitoba of specialized neurologists and electroencephalogram (EEG) technologists.
Government statement on neurological services
In a statement Thursday, a provincial government spokesman said the province is committed to improving neurological and stroke services.
“Our government supports Shared Health in its efforts to strengthen neurological services and improve local access to care for patients, including those living with epilepsy and MS. Our government has implemented new initiatives to improve neurological services in our province, including the Adult Epilepsy Surveillance Unit announced last year and the new Special Acute Stroke Unit being built at HSC Winnipeg (for which funding will be available to support itself appropriately when it appears online).
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Shared Health has hired a neurologist with MS, two epileptologists, two neurologists with a stroke and a cognitive neurologist, including support staff for the past 18 months. In addition, doctors have been hired to support inpatient work in neurology and stroke care, providing important patient care, while freeing up some specialized care for more services. An inter-provincial agreement has been signed with the British Columbia Institute of Technology, which provides two EEG sites for Manitoba students, and an increase in the clinical scholarship for doctors with MS has been approved.
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He said the province should hire 8 to 10 specialists in MS and stroke next year. He said additional funding of $ 2m to $ 2.5m is needed to hire doctors, expand clinical services and maintain existing programs.
The MS Clinic at the Center for Health Sciences serves 2,800 patients, but two of its neurologists have left in the last 2 1/2 years and it has been difficult to hire replacements; the four that remain are overloaded, Roberts said.
Allowing the clinic to close would be “catastrophic” with ripple effects for the province’s epilepsy and stroke services, he added.
“To prevent this from happening, we essentially need to take desperate action and we need the support of the government and Shared Health to do that,” he said, adding that he had a plan to bring in local neurologists who did not. they do. specialize in MS to fill staff gaps, but need more financial resources and clinical support.
“I can’t hire with empty promises.
SHANNON VANRAES / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
The MS Clinic at the Center for Health Sciences serves 2,800 patients, but two of its neurologists have left in the last 2 1/2 years and it has been difficult to hire replacements; the four that remain are overloaded.
A Shared Health spokesman did not pay special attention to Roberts’ three-month warning, but said the organization had hired a specialist neurologist and practicing nurse to work at the clinic and was still recruiting.
“Although the MS clinic has challenges with neurology staff, the clinic continues to provide care for patients living with the disease,” the spokesman said.
“Shared Health is in the midst of strengthening the staff for the clinic, with the recruitment of an additional neurologist with MS in the final stages and the recent approval to create an additional position for a practicing nurse.”
“Shared Health is in the midst of strengthening the staff of the clinic, with the recruitment of an additional neurologist with MS in the final stages and the recent approval to create an additional position as a practicing nurse.” – Spokesman for Shared Health
But Roberts said those commitments were not enough to continue the clinic’s work for the next 90 days; the neurologist will not be ready to practice at the MS clinic until February, and the position of practicing nurse covers maternity leave.
Meanwhile, patients are getting worse while waiting for treatment, said Dr. Ruth Ann Marie, the clinic’s medical director and a leading expert in MS research. There are 100 patients with MS on the waiting list at the clinic, and those waiting in line for an occupational therapist there will have to wait two years.
“This is not reasonable,” Marie said, explaining that the longer MS patients have to wait for care, the more likely they are to relapse, which could mean loss of the ability to walk or see. or work, in some cases.
“We know that there are people who have not been seen (in the clinic) who have gone to the emergency department because things happened while they were waiting,” she said. “It’s not good for the health care system and it’s not good for the patient.”
JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
Meanwhile, patients are getting worse while waiting for treatment, said Dr. Ruth Ann Marie, the clinic’s medical director and a leading expert in MS research.
Roberts said the problem has been getting worse for a long time. Shortly before the pandemic began, the former head of critical care at the HSC was given responsibility for dealing with the aftermath of the eviction of neuroscientists from Manitoba. He said at the time he had warned the province of an impending shortage of EEG technicians, but had not seen any training or detention measures until it was too late.
The EEG waiting list is now doubling every four or five months, and access has been drastically reduced, a reserve now mainly for patients in the emergency and intensive care units.
Delays mean that Manitoba patients with epilepsy end up in the emergency department because they cannot get grades elsewhere or face major delays in receiving basic services that require grades, such as renewing a driver’s license.
A full set of 11 or 12 EEG technologists is needed, Roberts said; there are currently between two and four available each day.
“It was a slow-moving train crash and they only reacted after the crash. So we cannot afford to allow the MS clinic to be closed. It will take years for us to restore it, and frankly, I’m just not waiting for that to happen, “he said, adding that public pressure will lead to more resources for neurological services.
“It was a slow-moving train crash and they only reacted after the crash. So we can’t afford to let the MS clinic close. “- Dr. Dan Roberts
There is also a shortage of stroke specialists, which Roberts says will delay the opening of a new 28-bed stroke treatment unit at the HSC, scheduled for October. A government spokesman said funding for the stroke ward would be available “when it comes online”.
The shortage means that all stroke patients must be referred to the HSC and there are only two specialists on call. They should be available at all times due to the time-sensitive nature of maintaining brain function after a stroke. Even if the number of patients remains at pre-Pandemic Manitoba levels, there will still not be enough neurologists to care for them, Roberts said.
NDP leader Wab Kinew said Manitoba residents should heed Roberts’ warnings, describing him as “an influential voice in shaping Manitoba’s health policy for …
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