Earlier this month, the local health authority announced they would be implementing a ministerial directive that was enacted by the health minister at the beginning of the pandemic, which allows the CISSSO to force part-time workers to adopt a full-time schedule. The changes applied to the nurses and support staff at the hospitals in Hull and Gatineau. The move was made possible by . . .
a decree from former Health Minister Danielle McCann in March, but was only applied for this region recently. Staff in Pontiac institutions were offered financial incentives to move to full-time or not miss days of work.
The move was broken by an article in Le Droit, which voiced the anger of nurses who had been affected by the move to mandatory hours.
Predictably, this did not go over well with staff.
A subsequent report from Le Droit on Nov. 12 revealed that at least 10 people had resigned in the wake of the move, and others went on sick leave.
Who can blame them?
This was an incredibly short-sighted blunder that will have massive implications for this region’s abilitiy to deal with COVID going into the holidays.
However, the head of CISSSO, Josée Filion, stated in the article that she was upset over all the “negative spin” that was generated by the imposition, saying that other regions have been under the same orders since the beginning of the pandemic and haven’t raised such a stink.
Well that may be so, but were these regions facing a similar shortage of nursing staff prior to the pandemic? Were their staff already burnt-out and disillusioned with their administrative superiors before everything went sideways?
The next day, CISSSO’s communications team leapt into action and told Le Droit that despite Filion’s estimate from the day before, their “official” number of resignations caused by the change was only two. What’s the more comforting thought, that there are 10 less resignations or that the head of the health authority doesn’t know what she’s talking about? If CISSSO brass don’t like the spin they’re getting on stories, then they should probably begin with a look at their own comms department.
In a way, you have to feel sorry for Madame Filion, she’s been backed into a corner when it comes to staffing. It’s hard to find good help most days and it’s doubly true when you’re in close proximity to a jurisdiction that happens to pay more, let alone a global crisis.
There has to be a way to keep local talent within the regional health care environment for more than a short period of time, but squeezing the few remaining workers is clearly not the way to do it.
More money would be as good a place as any to start. This region is underfunded compared to the rest of the province, and if the CAQ knew what was good for them, they would stop promising shiny new facilities and get down to the problems they themselves have already publicly acknowledged.
As citizens, we need less hot air from the people in authority and more proactive measures to ensure a future for local health care.
Caleb Nickerson
