What is flexibility?
“Flexibility is being able to take a healthcare professional and send her where there is a need, where a resource is missing,” summarizes the president of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), Julie Bouchard.
To allow this type of movement, the government proposed in the agreement in principle to modify or merge existing centers of activity, sometimes by merging departments from different establishments. “We could, for example, take a nurse from a CHSLD and merge it with the pediatrics department,” illustrates Mme Bouchard.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Julie Bouchard, president of the Quebec Interprofessional Health Federation
This reshuffling of activity centers was not well received. For what ?
Some healthcare professionals see this new measure as a disguised way of moving employees from one establishment to another. “I hope that the FIQ-Santé will understand that we do NOT want to be moved,” said a nurse on Facebook in reaction to the rejection of the agreement.
“The link between healthcare professionals and managers is extremely fragile. They fear that they will take advantage of it to do anything, anytime, any way,” says Mme Bouchard.
So the cause of the problem is the merger of activity centers?
In fact, the merger of activity centers is not new. Half of Quebec’s health establishments already have equivalent flexibility measures, says a government source familiar with the matter who is not authorized to speak publicly on this subject.
“What we see most often in terms of mergers at the moment are operating theaters and recovery rooms. Or even obstetrics and perinatal care,” says Mme Bouchard.
The agreement in principle, however, gives more freedom to merge activity centers, which will sometimes be located in different establishments, maintains the president of the FIQ. However, not all establishments would reorganize their activity centers.
Will nurses be trained before being moved to another facility?
Yes. In the event of a merger of centers of activity, the employer undertakes to train healthcare professionals and keep their knowledge up to date so that they are able to offer the care and services offered throughout the activity center, specifies the agreement in principle which was rejected.
Can healthcare professionals be moved anywhere?
By integrating the new definition of activity center, healthcare professionals will have a home base assigned to them. If we wish to move them more than 35 km from their home port or their residence, or more than 25 km in the Montreal region, the employee can choose to refuse.
We also hear about voluntary displacement. Is this a synonym for flexibility?
No. Healthcare workers may also be asked to voluntarily work outside their center of activity. This situation mainly occurs when establishments are seriously short of staff. “When there is a large shortage of clinical perfusionists at the Montreal Heart Institute, perfusionists from the University Institute of Cardiology and Pneumology of Quebec can go and lend a hand,” gives M.me Bouchard. If they accept such trips, a bonus and compensation for their mileage are then offered to them.
Is the government open to backing down on “flexibility”?
Asked to comment on the failure of talks with the FIQ, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, announced on Tuesday that his objectives in terms of staff mobility “have not changed”. “What we want is a certain flexibility to be able to serve our patients well and have a correct environment for our employees,” he declared during the study of his ministry’s budgetary appropriations.
For her part, the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, declared during a press scrum at the National Assembly that the government “will not budge on the flexibility objectives.” “It is important to have a certain mobility in the network because we must be able to have all the necessary service coverage. »
The story so far:
- January 2023: The Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ) begins to negotiate with Quebec.
- December 19, 2023: Quebec announces the appointment of a conciliator, at the request of the FIQ.
- February 15, 2024: The FIQ says it is “still very far” from an agreement. The main challenge for reaching an agreement lies in the question of flexibility.
- March 19, 2024: The FIQ and Quebec reach a “proposed agreement”.
- March 22, 2024: The proposed agreement in principle concluded with Quebec is ratified by the delegates in a proportion of 53%.
- April 12, 2024: FIQ members vote 61% against the agreement in principle.
With The Canadian Press