(Quebec) The Legault government aspires to get rid of private labor agencies, but a new, more restrictive call for tenders – and on an unprecedented scale – risks plunging the public health network “into the chaos”, warns a group of agencies.
The Private Companies of Caregivers of Quebec (EPPSQ) group says it is “highly concerned” by the publication in mid-December of a mammoth call for tenders, which will “most certainly explode the costs” of the use of labor. of independent work in health, according to him.
According to his estimate, the Quebec state could pay at least 800 million too much for the maximum duration of the contract, ie two years.
The Government Acquisition Center (CAG) has launched a call for tenders to fill needs estimated at more than 8 million hours of work to be carried out by labor from private agencies. This unprecedented volume is based on the needs estimated by CIUSSSs and CISSSs across the province for the next year.
The problem, in the eyes of EPPSQ, is that Quebec has just introduced for the first time the notion of “single rate”, which means that a bidder must propose a single rate per job category, whether the service is offered in Montreal or Sept-Îles, otherwise it is inadmissible.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Patrice Lapointe, President of Private Caregiver Companies of Quebec
“No matter where I send my resource, I have to charge the same rate”, illustrates the president of the group, Patrice Lapointe. According to him, the agencies will therefore find themselves with two options: make urban areas pay more or offer a price that will reduce supply in remote areas, hence the estimate of an overall increase in contracts that will be concluded.
“Either we blow up prices […] or we come to create many more risks of [ruptures] services in remote regions, which are already very fragile,” explains Mr. Lapointe, whose association – the largest in Quebec – brings together 21 private agencies.
Effects feared in the region
Patrice Lapointe fears that fewer and fewer agencies are at the same time ready to send health workers to remote regions such as the Côte-Nord or Abitibi-Témiscamingue, where establishments are highly dependent on the workforce. independent work.
A nurse for the Montreal region costs an average of $71.87 per hour, all expenses included, while the average in the region can exceed $100 per hour, reports EPPSQ.
“We will find ourselves having to increase rates in certain places when it shouldn’t be that,” testifies the principal director of the Code Bleu agency, Caroline Casabon. The agency, which employs between 300 and 400 people, serves both major centers and more remote regions.
“It’s a single rate, so I have no choice. I find that a bit ironic, because if we listen to everything that is said, it’s the agencies that always bear the blame, the burden of everything, and that’s [le gouvernement, avec cet appel d’offres]which puts us in a position like that, ”she laments.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Caroline Casabon, Senior Director of Code Bleu
As the call for tenders is still open (it must end on Monday, January 23 and EPPSQ is requesting that it be postponed until January 1er March), the Ministry of Health and Social Services did not wish to comment on the introduction of the single tariff.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, publicly affirms that he wants to wean the public network of private labor agencies within three years.
“Although we want to make changes to this management method quickly, it is important to do things well,” said his cabinet on Wednesday. “In particular, we must respect the reality of each region to ensure a healthy transition,” it added.
In addition, Christian Dubé is “working seriously on the option” of legislating to better regulate the use of agencies, in particular with the end of Law 28, which maintained in force ministerial decrees linked to the pandemic despite the lifting of the state. health emergency.
Law 28, which expired on December 31, forced agencies to respect ceiling prices for labour. These decrees also authorized a price increase of 20% for remote regions.
Addition of “adjacent regions”
Still in this framework strategy, the call for tenders also tightens the non-competition criteria. Thus, a nurse who leaves the public network cannot, for a period of one year, work in an institution for an agency in the same administrative region as her former employer or even “in the bordering regions” new arrangement.
The addition of “bordering regions” is exaggerated and will also increase the travel costs of workers, maintains EPPSQ. The Department replies that this is a measure to promote retention.
EPPSQ says it is in favor of better supervision of agencies when a good number of companies “with questionable practices” have appeared since the pandemic. But the measures taken to achieve this “will not have the desired effects”, according to Patrice Lapointe, since the criteria introduced will make the contracts “inapplicable” in the field.
The group also deplores being kept completely “away” from discussions with the government. An offer of collaboration sent last week to Minister Christian Dubé’s office has remained a dead letter, we were told.