Bill 26: The Health System Governance and Accountability Amendment Act (Eliminating Mandatory Overtime for Nurses)

This bill directly affects hospitals, regional health authorities, personal care homes, and other health care organizations in Manitoba that receive public funding and employ registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, or licensed practical nurses. If you run or manage a health care facility — whether it's a large regional hospital or a smaller community health organization — you'll need to put together and submit a formal plan showing how you'll phase out mandatory overtime for nursing staff. Day-to-day staffing decisions will be affected, as you can no longer routinely require nurses to stay beyond their scheduled hours except in genuine life-threatening emergencies or declared disasters. Larger health authorities face the most direct accountability obligations, including potential compliance findings if they fall short of the benchmarks the minister sets by regulation.