Quebec has hired 15 nurses and 8 beneficiary attendants for its new “public flying team”, which must help hospitals in regions in difficulty. A first nurse was dispatched to the North Shore on Tuesday.
According to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), more than 120 interviews are “planned in the coming days” in order to recruit more nurses and beneficiary attendants within this floating team. “More than 500 resumes” are also currently being analyzed.
For the moment, only one nurse has been deployed on the ground. The CISSS de la Côte-Nord refuses to reveal in which hospital it works.
Other members of the flying team will be dispatched “gradually” to the North Shore, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Outaouais, indicates the MSSS. “Needs from one region to another vary greatly from day to day,” we write.
Wires remain to be attached, according to the FSSS-CSN
The Federation of Health and Social Services (FSSS)-CSN affirms that threads still remain to be tied regarding the flying team, but that it does not want to be “an obstacle to its deployment”. The union continues negotiations with Quebec while reinforcements are sent.
The flying team employees have the same salary as their peers. “What remains to be determined is the amount of the various bonuses or terms that promote attraction,” says FSSS-CSN President Réjean Leclerc. These financial bonuses will be retroactive, he assures. “We want and we will agree on retroactivity.”
The FSSS-CSN plans to request temporary bonuses for employees of health establishments who live in these needy regions. An amount could, for example, be granted to nurses and beneficiary attendants who would offer more availability during the summer.
If Quebec does not agree to this request, Réjean Leclerc fears that the arrival of the flying team will have a “demobilizing effect” on employees already on site. “People will welcome staff who are paid differently than them, who have bonuses,” explains Réjean Leclerc.