Manitoba's government is depriving people of access to health care by not putting nurse practitioners to work, says the provincial group that represents the profession.

The government passed legislation in 2005 that made it legal for nurse practitioners to work in the province. Health Minister Tim Sale said at the time that the law would help ease the doctor shortage because it let the nurse practitioners work on their own to order tests, prescribe some medications and perform minor surgeries.

But Jane MacDonald, the co-chair of the Nurse Practitioner Association of Manitoba, warned Wednesday that the NDP government under Premier Gary Doer has not funded enough jobs for nurse practitioners.

MacDonald said the University of Manitoba's two-year nurse practitioner program has so far has produced 29 graduates.

But nearly one-third of them left the province either because they couldn't find work in Manitoba or because of a lack of incentives, she said. Another seven graduates are still looking for work in the province.

The province should fund enough jobs so the unemployed nurse practitioners are hired, MacDonald said. But until it does, she warned that it is not difficult to figure out who is paying the price.

"The public of Manitoba is being deprived of accessing health care," she said.

Could handle 500 to 1,000 patients each

Each nurse practitioner can handle from 500 to 1,000 patients, she said.

"We need to work in a collaborative relation with a physician, but we work autonomously, and the legislation allows us to do that. So as far as I can see, those are huge numbers, huge potential for a number of people that are looking for primary care providers that … for lack of funding, aren't able to access [it]."

She fears the job shortage will get worse because the University of Manitoba has nearly doubled the number of students in the program.

NDP only went halfway, Tories allege

Conservative health critic Myrna Driedger said Wednesday that the province only went halfway in its efforts to include nurse practitioners in the health care system.

'Once the legislation was brought in, basically somebody hit the snooze button and now we are finding that we've got nurse practitioners that are struggling to find work here.'-Conservative health critic Myrna Driedger

"So while the government brought in legislation that would allow nurse practitioners to work here in Manitoba, once the legislation was brought in, basically somebody hit the snooze button and now we are finding that we've got nurse practitioners that are struggling to find work here," Driedger said.

She said a Conservative provincial government would put a strategy in place to keep nurse practitioners within the province and ensure they are employed.

A spokesman for Sale said Wednesday the province will follow through on its commitment that any nurse practitioner who wants to work in Manitoba will get work. He added the government is also working on expanding the number of jobs for nurse practitioners in the province.

As well, two pilot projects involving nurse practitioners are underway or in the works: one at the Manitoba Clinic in Winnipeg to improve services for children and another in emergency services at Bethesda Hospital in Steinbach.

Nursing body urges caution

A spokesman for the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba pointed out that it has only been a year since nurse practitioners were able to work in the province, even though the University of Manitoba has been graduating them since 2000.

The spokesman said it would be impossible to know whether some of those graduates that left simply came here to study.

Some of them may have left to work in other provinces that were ahead of Manitoba in legalizing the profession, he said.