End of private agencies | Dubé backtracks on schedule

(Quebec) In an unexpected turnaround, Christian Dubé is pushing back the weaning of independent workers in the health network. The minister is abandoning his first target and granting a six-month deadline to establishments in large centres to abolish the use of agencies.

This is a major about-face by the Legault government in its standoff with labor placement agencies. The Minister of Health has decided to postpone until March 2025 the end of the use of independent labor in the first establishments targeted by the measure.

Initially, the ban was to come into effect in Montreal, Laval, Montérégie, the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches starting October 20. The withdrawal is planned to take place over three years, in three different waves. For now, the other targets remain unchanged.

However, the Minister of Health explains that he wants to give “room for maneuver” to establishments that have more difficulty in weaning.

The Press reported last week that the Suroît hospital in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield had to close 36 additional hospital beds to meet the government’s objectives by October 20. Other establishments were also far from weaning two months before the deadline.

On Friday, the Fédération des médecins spécialisé du Québec (FMSQ) and the Collège des médecins asked the government to postpone the deadline. These two statements weighed heavily in the minister’s decision to review his commitment.

According to the FMSQ, the government’s target was too “ambitious” and could also have an impact on the catch-up plan in surgery. The College, whose mission is to ensure the quality of care and the protection of the public, also said it was “concerned” and asked for more “flexibility” from the Ministry.

Moreover, Christian Dubé did not want to compromise the loan of staff from establishments in major centres to remote regions. For the time being, teams of caregivers from the Capitale-Nationale, for example, are being deployed to the Côte-Nord, where the tightening of government rules for the use of agencies is causing significant turbulence.

Furthermore, Christian Dubé does not return to the imposition of maximum rates on agency workers, which poses a particular problem in remote regions.

Unexpected turnaround

Again on Friday, after the College and the FMSQ’s statement, the Minister of Health wrote on the X network that he was staying the course. “The agencies hope that the government backs down. We saw it when we implemented maximum rates last May, the pressure to back down was strong, but we succeeded in making this important change,” he indicated.

Some 3,800 agency workers have returned to the public network in the past year, as of August 22.