Quebec will grant bonuses of $ 12,000 to $ 18,000 to nurses in the public system

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Prime Minister François Legault, calling it a “little revolution” to combat the chronic shortage of nurses in Quebec, announced Thursday that the government will award $ 12,000 to $ 18,000 in bonuses to nurses who work full-time in the system. public or go to work full time.

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In total, the incentives, aimed at alleviating a shortage of 4,300 full-time nurses in what Legault called Quebec’s “near dysfunctional” health care system, are expected to cost roughly $ 1 billion. There are approximately 75,000 registered nurses to work in Quebec.

The bonuses are intended as a temporary solution to the two main problems plaguing the health care sector, Legault said: the fact that 40 percent of nurses work part-time and that many are leaving the public system to work for private placement agencies that offer better hours.

The collective agreement that is about to be signed with the nursing unions will rectify many of the problems causing the nurse shortage, including overtime and unpredictable hours, Legault said. But because the wheels of Quebec’s massive healthcare bureaucracy turn slowly and new management systems will take time to implement, the bonuses will act as a bridging measure that will help retain and recruit new nurses, he said, easing pressure on the system.

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“We are going to reorganize the work of the nurses, something they have been asking for for a long time, offering them predictable schedules that will allow for work-family balance,” Legault said. “Give them a reasonable family and personal life and, above all, stop asking them to do mandatory overtime.”

However, nursing unions said Thursday’s announcement was a disappointment because the government did not eliminate mandatory overtime immediately.

“Mandatory overtime is the main reason nurses leave the system,” said Roberto Bomba, executive director of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), the province’s largest union representing nurses and respiratory technologists. “But the government is not quickly implementing all these mechanisms that we have negotiated to solve the problems.”

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According to Thursday’s announcement, Quebec nurses who work full time in the public system, as well as auxiliary nurses and respiratory therapists, will receive a bonus of $ 15,000.

All part-time nurses who switch to full-time will receive bonuses of $ 15,000. Many nurses choose to work part-time to avoid the imposed overtime that has pushed their colleagues out of the public system.

Nurses who have retired or moved to the private sector and return to the public system will receive $ 12,000.

Nurses in the five worst affected regions who remained in the public sector will receive $ 18,000. Those who switch full time will receive $ 15,000. Those regions are Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Outaouais and Nunavik / Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James.

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The bonuses are available for the next 12 months and beneficiaries will include new nursing hires in the public system. One third of the bonus will be paid in the next few weeks or as soon as a nurse changes full time. The other two-thirds will be paid in October 2022. The government hopes that extending the payment term and improving working conditions will encourage nurses to stay, rather than accept the bonuses and leave soon after.

The government also plans to hire 3,000 new administrative assistants to help tackle paperwork that nurses say can fill 30 percent of their shifts. To make jobs on the public network more attractive, employees of private agencies will be offered mainly unfavorable time slots, such as afternoons, nights and weekends.

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“We understand that the essential thing for nurses is not money, it is quality of life,” said Legault. “Our goal is to make the public network the best place for nurses to work. Not private employment agencies. “

Nurse unions, health care organizations and independent studies have warned of growing shortages as increasing numbers of nurses leave the public system. A report released last week by 2021 Estates-General on the nursing profession found that roughly 1,000 nurses left to join the private sector last year, 300 more than in previous years.

Mandatory overtime, low nurse-to-patient ratio, and lack of involvement in care were cited as the main reasons for leaving. Nurses complained about ever-changing schedules that disrupt family life, as well as burnout as a labor shortage leads to more forced overtime. The problems were compounded by the additional workload and increased sick leave among hospital staff caused by the pandemic.

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The union Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux criticized the government’s plan because it does not abolish the overtime imposed “and contains only temporary measures that will not put an end to the crisis in the network.”

Québec solidaire said the government’s proposal fails to remove the system from relying on private placement agencies and forced overtime, putting the burden on nurses.

“The Avenir Québec Coalition is trying to get nurses to leave the system saying, ‘Come back, I’ll change,'” said Vincent Marissal, a health critic for the party. “If the nurses do not return as the government expects, the interruption of services will multiply in the coming months.”

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