Relatives of people accommodated are concerned about the quality of care provided by beneficiary attendants as part of accelerated training, the annual report of the Public Protector revealed on Thursday.
Faced with a serious labor shortage, Quebec has been banking on short-term training programs for beneficiary attendants since the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent offensive was launched last May, with the aim of training 3,000 to 5,000 new beneficiary attendants by December.
However, on the ground, families fear that “the quality of care and services given by beneficiary attendants trained as part of an accelerated program is not equivalent to that of their more experienced colleagues,” write Marc-André Dowd and his team in their 2022-2023 report.
“The Québec Ombudsman understands that accelerated training helps meet the immediate needs of residents, but concern for the quality of care and services must remain a constant concern,” adds Mr. Dowd as a warning.
At a press briefing, vice-protector Claude Dussault insisted on the importance of “having a balance”. “This does not call into question the direction of accelerating training, but it is a reminder to ensure that you properly monitor the training of people and supervise them well, especially at the start of training,” said he asserted.
Asked to react, the office of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, said it “takes note” of the Public Protector’s report. “We must find ways to meet the needs of the population without compromising the quality of care offered. This is a constant concern,” said press officer Antoine de la Durantaye. “Accelerated training is a first step in our health network. Beneficiary attendants then have the possibility of accessing other continuing training,” he also recalled.
The waiting list for CHSLDs is growing
Locked up for 36 hours
In several places in his report, Mr. Dowd mentions the impacts of the labor shortage. He notes that the exodus of staff “has been particularly marked” in the youth protection sector. There, “the speakers [sont] subjected to a highly demanding professional environment, an excessively heavy workload, insufficient supervision, as well as social and media pressure that is sometimes difficult to bear,” writes the Public Protector.
In detention centers, more than one in five correctional officer positions is vacant, Mr. Dowd pointed out at a press briefing. The impacts on incarcerated people are major: people were kept in their cells “for more than 24 hours, sometimes up to 36 hours at a time,” he wrote in his report.
The consequences are also felt within the staff. “The Public Protector has noted that managers abandon their tasks to replace agents or are forced to require them to work for 16 consecutive hours,” notes the document.
Administrative segregation — for security reasons — “is used regularly throughout the Quebec correctional network.” The Public Protector says he is still dissatisfied with the work of the Ministry of Public Security to update a directive which would notably regulate solitary confinement.