The holidays will once again worsen the labor shortage in hospitals this summer, with more than 1,500 beds being closed out of the 17,000 in the network.
“Yes, it will be another difficult summer,” declared the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé in a press scrum on Wednesday, stressing that the situation had nevertheless improved slightly compared to last year (1,600 beds were then closed).
A total of 933 beds cannot accommodate patients due to lack of manpower. However, due to the holidays, 612 must be added.
“We are not yet in the right place,” agreed the minister, adding that we had to deal in particular with the lack of personnel and the absence of agreement on working conditions with the main nursing union, the Federation interprofessional health association (FIQ).
A statement that made the FIQ react in the evening. “I have difficulty explaining why Minister Dubé says such a thing,” declared its president, Julie Bouchard. “National negotiations do not change the recurring lack of planning for the summer period on the part of managers. »
And added that the government “knew that the summer would be difficult by withdrawing the independent workforce at a time when healthcare professionals [les infirmières] of the public network take their vacation…”.
A first flying team next week on the North Shore
As for the new flying teams which must bring reinforcements to the most deprived hospitals, they will not be deployed before next week, he indicated.
“As planned, I hope, in the last week of June, we will have the first cohorts which would be on the North Shore. »
Each cohort should have approximately 40 people. They will be deployed in turn for periods of ten days to two weeks.
After the North Shore, it will be the turn of Abitibi-Témiscamingue to receive aid, then the Outaouais region. Ultimately, Christian Dubé hopes to build a team of 500 people ready to be deployed.
So far, 1200 people have submitted their applications for these positions.