Nurses are giving another cry from the heart over mandatory overtime that continues to eat into the health care system. The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, must act “now”, pleads the union which represents the nurses of the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Quebec.
“The more OSTs (compulsory overtime), the more people we lose and that exacerbates the shortage. We must stop the bleeding quickly, ”said Thursday the president of the Interprofessional Union of the CHU of Quebec (SICHU-FIQ), Nancy Hogan.
The local union, which represents 4,600 nurses in Quebec, recently learned that overtime had been imposed on its members 377 times between November 15 and December 5. “The pressure has been on healthcare professionals for too long,” continued Ms. Hogan. “Since the summer, it’s practically unlivable. “
According to the union, the new bonuses offered by the government have had little impact on human resources. “It did not attract the crowds at the CHU,” said Hogan, who reports that her union is losing people “every day”.
The organization does not have precise data on the number of departures in recent months, but Hogan estimates that “year after year”, there are as many people arriving as people leaving.
As solutions, the union suggests in particular that we reduce the constraints associated with bonuses, that we remunerate interns and that we “prevent private agencies from existing”.
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