The president of the Regroupement des agencies de placement de personnel de la santé (RAPDS), Richard Mercier, has in his ranks more than 800 nurses, nursing assistants and orderlies ready to contribute to the war effort against the Omicron variant on condition that the government end the “inequity” between agencies.
“We have people who, if the conditions were uniform for all the agencies, [pourraient s’ajouter] resources that are badly needed in the health network, ”said Mr. Mercier in a telephone interview with The duty.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, imposes a series of conditions on employment agencies that were not part of the “joint supply group” recognized by the Center d ‘acquisitions government before March 13, 2020. For example, it capped at $ 71.87 the hourly amount that can be allocated to them in exchange for the services of a nurse.
“With a rate of 71.87 dollars, I have to pay the rate [horaire de l’infirmière], overtime if there is any, transport and accommodation… You understand that that does not work ”, continues Mr. Mercier, who also runs a company dedicated to“ establishing links between [environ 4000] self-employed workers and potential clients ”, AideXpress.
The entrepreneur urges the government to “treat on an equal footing” all employment agencies and, by extension, all those who are members. “We understand the government’s idea of using fewer agencies, then bringing people back into the health network, but the current mechanism cannot do that,” said Mr. Mercier.
The RAPDS lost 50% of its professional members, not to the benefit of CISSS and CIUSSS, but rather to agencies exempted from the pandemic rules decreed by the Minister of Health since they were in the orbit of the network before the 13th. March 2020. ” [Ces agences] have the ability to ask for prices that do not respect the orders, conditions that do not respect the orders, which allows them to recruit our world. For the government, it costs more, it does not reduce the exodus of personnel from the health network, ”explains Richard Mercier, before discussing possible breakdowns in services in the regions if nothing is done.
For now, it is difficult to understand why the Quebec government calls on the Canadian Armed Forces and the Red Cross, but deprives itself of a few hundred self-employed workers who are members of the fifteen employment agencies it represents. “We understand that in the public sphere, the image of agencies is not very good, but it is not because of us if the health network is currently facing challenges. “
The Red Cross is coming
Quebec’s appeal for help was heard at the headquarters of the Canadian Red Cross.
Indeed, the humanitarian aid organization will send “in the coming days” up to 300 employees – “service assistants” and experts in the prevention and fight against infections – in the Quebec health network, which is currently deprived of nearly 5,200 employees who are on sick leave because they have tested positive for COVID-19, are awaiting a result or are refusing to be tested. “That does not mean December 25,” specifies the director of communications of the Red Cross, Carole Du Sault, at Duty. Most teams should be deployed more in long-term care centers, and less in vaccination and screening centers, she said.
Red Cross employees will swell the ranks formed by medical specialists from Quebec, soldiers from the Canadian Armed Forces and people recruited through the platform I contribute, where 8,000 resumes have been submitted “in the last few days” .
Moreover, the government of Quebec has still not made known the nature of the reinforcements it is requesting from Ottawa. The provincial Minister of Public Security, Geneviève Guilbault, did not encrypt them in the letter she sent to the federal government on Tuesday. His colleague in Health, Christian Dubé, was content to talk about a shortfall of 500 vaccinators. The unions in the health network report a staff shortage in almost all areas. At a press conference on Wednesday, Prime Minister François Legault indicated that “as regards the army, at best we would speak of a few dozen people. So we organize without the army ”.
“We do not have infinite resources,” argued earlier Wednesday his federal counterpart, Justin Trudeau, at a press conference.
With Marie Vastel, Isabelle Paré and Anne-Marie Provost