Health System Updates — Oct 4/24
715 words / 3 min read
CancerCare Manitoba Concerns
Last week, stories emerged in the news about physician concerns regarding CancerCare Manitoba (CCMB).
WHY IT MATTERS: Physician retention and recruitment has been a concern at CCMB, leading to workload challenges and the potential for burnout, distress, and impacts on patient care.
Doctors Manitoba has received concerns from numerous physicians at CancerCare for some time now. We responded as we often do with clusters of concerns, by sending a message out more broadly to that physician group to check in, with the goal of facilitating constructive dialogue towards resolving physicians’ concerns. While it wasn’t our intention, that message was obtained by the media.
We are working directly with physicians and have met with senior leadership to advance these concerns and work on a resolution.
Breast cancer screening to start at age 40… eventually
The Manitoba government will progressively lower the age for breast cancer screening self-referrals to 40 from 50, beginning with a commitment to get to age 45 by the end of 2025.
WHY IT MATTERS: New draft guidelines were shared earlier this year by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care that proposed opening preventive screening up to women in their 40s if they want it. Currently screening is recommended for women between 50 and 74, with the option to continue past that age limit. Final guidelines are expected this fall.
WHAT’S NEXT: CancerCare Manitoba has been working with health system partners on a plan to add more capacity. The focus includes
- Focusing first on expanding capacity to improve access for women already currently eligible for screening, especially marginalized and low-income women. Women can face long waits for a screening mammogram today approaching half a year.
- Next the plan involves expanding screening access to women 45 – 49 by next December (2025).
- Finally screening will be expanded to women 40 – 44, though no date was set.
By hiring more mammography technologists, the breast screening program will nearly double its capacity to over 80,000 screening mammograms per year. The plan also involves expanding the capacity beyond screening, including for ultrasound, biopsies, and treatment.
THE CONTROVERSY: Advocates want to see screening expanded to women in their 40s with proactive reminders, and on a faster timeline, following the U.S. approach. The opposition PCs have called for this policy change for months, and introduced legislation to achieve this just yesterday.
WHAT TO DO NOW: For now, nothing changes on eligibility, with women under 50 eligible for diagnostic mammograms if they are higher risk.
LEARN MORE: Here are resources for you and your patient:
- We have public resources available on our Getting Healthy site, including about breast screening and about breast cancer risks under 50.
- CancerCare Manitoba has a screening guide for physicians that outlines who is considered higher risk under 50 and what to do.
- Provincial news release about screening expansion.
- Draft screening guideline updates from the Canadian Task Force for Preventive Health.
Dr. Anderson New Chair for WRHA Board
Dr. Marcia Anderson is the new chair of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s board of directors.
Dr. Anderson, the vice-dean of Indigenous health, social justice and anti-racism at the University of Manitoba’s faculty of health sciences, led the provincial government’s public health response to COVID-19 for First Nations and was recently appointed to the Order of Manitoba. In 2022, she was recognized as Physician of the Year by Doctors Manitoba.
She replaces Netha Dyck, who remains a board member. Three other new members have joined the board: vice-chair Mary Jane Brownscombe, Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud and Mala Sachdeva.
Minimum wage increases
A new provincial minimum wage of $15.80 came into effect on Tuesday. This year’s increase of 50 cents per hour raised the minimum wage to $15.80 from $15.30. Updated annually, Manitoba’s minimum wage is regulated through the Employment Standards Code.
For more information on the minimum wage and other employment standards, visit this provincial resource.
TigerConnect live // Cortext gone
TigerConnect, the new option for clinical secure messaging is now live, and Cortext has been retired.
RESOURCES AVAILABLE:
Self-Service Guides: Learning Guide – Mobile & Desktop
Service Desk: available to assist, email CortextTransition@sharedhealthmb.ca or call 204−940−8500 (Winnipeg) or 1−866−999−9698 (Manitoba) option #6
Click here for the latest information.
Please let us know how your TigerConnect experience has been so far. Reach out at general@doctorsmanitoba.ca.