Despite their dire shortage of manpower, Outaouais hospitals have still not received any help from the flying team, two months after its deployment began. Health Minister Christian Dubé says he has asked for it to be deployed there at a “very early date.”
Christian Dubé is on a two-day visit to Outaouais. In a press scrum on Monday, he explained the absence of the flying team in the region by the fact that the CISSS de l’Outaouais managed to avoid service disruptions thanks to the efforts of its staff during the summer.
The minister acknowledged that the situation remains “difficult” in the region, but that it is worse elsewhere. “There are places like on the Côte-Nord, I had service disruptions,” he said.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Christian Dubé, Minister of Health
Currently, 47 members of the flying team – beneficiary attendants, health and social services auxiliaries, nurses and nursing assistants – have been dispatched to the Côte-Nord and Abitibi-Témiscamingue, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
The Outaouais region received help from radiology technicians from other establishments through “service loans,” said Christian Dubé.
Quebec offers medical imaging technologists in several Outaouais sectors an annual lump sum of $18,000 or $22,000 if they work 37.5 hours per week instead of 35. They are entitled to a summer bonus of 10%.
Read the article “More technologists in Outaouais will have a bonus”
Christian Dubé points out that the collective agreements recently signed with the Alliance of Professional and Technical Staff in Health and Social Services (APTS), the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) and the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux-CSN provide amounts aimed at attracting and retaining staff in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, on the Côte-Nord and in Outaouais.
“The union and the employer must agree on where this money should go,” he said. The minister invites the joint committees to sit down at the table so that solutions can be put in place as quickly as possible.
The FIQ reacts
The president of the Outaouais Health Care Professionals Union, Karine Dauteuil, met with Minister Christian Dubé during her first day of visit on Monday.
She points out that the Outaouais may not be experiencing “service disruptions,” but “a lot of service slowdowns.” “If we take, for example, operating rooms, only emergencies are treated,” she says. [Il n’y a] no elective cases.
Karine Dauteuil believes that the government must “improve” the envelope of money allocated to the Outaouais by virtue of its special status linked to the border it shares with Ontario.
Furthermore, she considers the million dollars provided for the Outaouais in the agreement in principle rejected by the FIQ members to be insufficient. “It’s not with the breadcrumbs that are put on the table that we’re going to come to an agreement,” she says.