The new government offensive to recruit up to 5,000 beneficiary attendants is “clearly insufficient” in the eyes of the opposition parties, who believe that it will be necessary to work on the retention of personnel in the health network.
• Read also: New offensive to recruit up to 5,000 beneficiary attendants
Quebec has relaunched accelerated training for beneficiary attendants, accompanied by a $12,000 scholarship and a promise of employment. This is a similar initiative to what was done during the pandemic.
With this measure, the government hopes to recruit 3,000 to 5,000 new candidates by next December. Even if they agree that this announcement is “good news”, the opposition parties remained unsatisfied.
For their part, the Liberals find that this plan is not ambitious enough. “It’s a small part of what should be an overall plan for attracting and retaining the workforce,” Liberal MP André Fortin said in an interview on Tuesday.
“The minister admits that the health network currently lacks 11,000 beneficiary attendants, but he is offering training to attract 3,000 to 5,000. This is clearly insufficient as an initiative,” he said. added.
For the united deputy Vincent Marissal, the establishment of accelerated training can certainly help to attract new candidates. “But we have to hold them back too. Retention does not necessarily go through a scholarship, it does not necessarily go through bonuses, it goes through good working conditions, ”he said.
“So the government will also have to tune in and be able to provide good long-term working conditions for people to stay,” he added.
Mr. Marissal also considers that this measure “hides the fact that we were not able to get the number [de préposés aux bénéficiaires] we wanted, and to keep them”.
During the pandemic, accelerated training attracted 10,000 students. Of this number, 8,000 beneficiary attendants are still in the network, according to the government.
As for PQ MP Joël Arseneau, he deplores the “incomplete and short-sighted” approach of the government.
“We are looking to recruit and train beneficiary attendants, without worrying about their integration and their working conditions. We lost 20% of the last cohort, following the disenchantment of these recruits,” he said in a written statement to the QMI Agency.
“We need a structuring multi-year plan, and bonuses alone will not be able to solve the staff shortage,” he concluded.