Pilot projects to test the ratios of nurses

Photo Simon Clark
The president of the FIQ, Nancy Bédard

Patrick Bellerose

Tuesday, 20 February 2018 13:13

UPDATE
Tuesday, 20 February 2018 20:10

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The nurses have won a first victory in their standoff with the minister Gaétan Barrette : Quebec will put in place pilot projects to test the ratios of nursing staff per patients.

The minister of Health made the announcement to the release of a new meeting with the Fédération interprofessionnelle du Québec (FIQ), on Tuesday, in order to settle the matter of exhaustion among nurses.

In total, 16 pilots will be put in place in NURSING homes, in medicine and surgery from the next month and for a period of approximately five months.

For Gaétan Barrette, the revision of the ratios as a result of the pilot projects will potentially lead to new hires. “I would be highly surprised that we did not hire more staff, including attendants [to the beneficiaries], because the attendants are a part of it all,” he says.

The president of the FIQ, Nancy Bédard, welcomed this step forward for their union. “We can say that the minister has made great strides in the past few weeks, she said. Three weeks ago, we had nothing.”

No law

Earlier in the day, the minister of Health has, however, dismissed the idea of a law to regulate ratios, as requested by the FIQ.

Gaétan Barrette has argued, the complexity of such a law. “Is it possible, for example, to write into a law a ratio that will be in a pediatric hospital versus a hospital as an adult ?”, illustrates there.

“I understand the request of the nurses, but this may not be the path that is appropriate,” said the minister.

Gaetan Barrette

Photo Simon Clark

Specialists Vs nursing

While the agreement with the doctors and specialists has been grumbling in the population since a week, the prime minister Philippe Couillard, for its part, assured that it will not adversely affect the ability of the government to create better conditions for nurses.

On the contrary, ” he said. “The fact that we have managed to contain it, put a stop to the growth of the compensation medical – itself and as weight in the health – care system- allows for the release of margins, including the place of nurses,” says the prime minister.

Philippe Couillard stressed that his government has “deployed a lot of new money for access to services,” in recent years. “I think that one is ripe now to make an effort in new money for the ambiance and the quality of work life for our employees the health-care system,” he says.

Other measures

The minister has provided a list of contacts in each institution, as well as the data required for local level negotiations (working hours, overtime, etc.).

Gaétan Barrette, sending a clear message to the network for that facility administrators fill full-time positions available.

In the meantime, Gaétan Barrette will ask the administrators to make available in advance the time slots, as is now the case in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.