Wardens from the Outaouais’ four MRCs and the mayor of Gatineau traveled to Quebec City to meet with Minister of Health Christian Dubé on Thursday to urge immediate action to address dire staffing shortages in the region’s healthcare network and prevent breaks in critical services.
In particular, the group expressed the necessity that the recently introduced $22,000 salary bonus for digital imaging technician positions in Hull and Gatineau hospitals be extended to rural hospitals in the Outaouais so that these hospitals don’t lose their few technicians to now higher-paying positions in the region’s urban hospitals.
“We needed him to know that the bonus going just to Hull or Gatineau would have a devastating effect on Shawville, Papineau and Maniwaki,” MRC Pontiac warden Jane Toller told THE EQUITY following the meeting.
“I was just told by a few employees that if something wasn’t done immediately about the [bonuses], just almost on principle, they would be leaving. They didn’t tell me where,” she said.
Since the bonus was created to draw technicians to vacant positions in Hull and Gatineau, employees in Papineau and Maniwaki hospitals have applied to the positions.
Guylaine Laroche is Outaouais president of l’Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS), the union representing imaging technicians in the region.
She said she is not aware whether any of the six technicians that work in the Pontiac have applied for the Hull and Gatineau positions, for which the applications deadline is June 9, but plans to meet with them this week to get a better sense of how this bonus incentive is affecting staffing in the region.
“If we don’t have anyone to do radio-diagnostic exams, patients could die because doctors will not be able to get the needed exams to know where to intervene,” Laroche said in French.
Two imaging positions are currently vacant at the Pontiac Hospital.Laroche said a competitive pay increase is needed for all radiology employees across the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l’Outaouais (CISSSO), not just those in Hull and Gatineau, in order to shrink the 65 per cent vacancy rate for radiology jobs across the organization.
Last week three doctors at the Papineau hospital sent a joint letter to Minister Dubé and treasury board president Sonia LeBel.
“The Papineau Hospital is preparing for an imminent catastrophe if the government does not quickly remedy the exodus of radiology technicians who are looking for more equitable working conditions,” the letter said, in French.
“Without these indispensable health professionals, no scans, ultrasounds or even simple x-rays will be able to be done.”
Dr. Marc Bilodeau, CEO and president of CISSSO, said he is aware this policy might have negative effects on the periphery regions, and that talks are underway to remedy it.
“That’s why we’re currently in discussion with our ministry and with the Treasury Board to see how we can adapt and potentially adjust those incentives so they’re not having that negative impact on the peripheries and we’re able to maintain the services in places like Maniwaki and Papineau and obviously Shawville as well,” Dr. Bilodeau said.
“We’ve opened positions in Hull and Gatineau and some have applied to those jobs. They have not transferred yet and we hope to come up with a solution before they make the move.”
Warden Toller, for her part, said she felt optimistic coming out of her Thursday meeting with the minister.
“[Minister Dubé] gave me the assurance that he was going to speak with the treasury and he just needed to figure out a few things, but I think there could be an announcement maybe next week, maybe by June 9.”
The question about whether the salary bonuses will be extended to rural workers is set against the backdrop of a healthcare system that’s been strapped for people for many years.
Statistics provided by CISSSO show that the number of radiology technicians employed by the healthcare organization dropped from 122 in 2019 to 102 in 2024.
Over the same time period, the number of nurses working for CISSSO dropped from 1984 to 1827 across the organization.
Now, the staffing shortages in these sectors are so extreme that CISSSO’s worst-case-scenario contingency plans for the summer involve closing down operating rooms in the region’s rural hospitals and closing the imaging department at the Gatineau Hospital to consolidate the technicians at the Hull Hospital.
Bilodeau said the plans are not set in stone, and that a series of simulation exercises currently underway are helping CISSSO to finetune its summer staffing strategies.
“Just those exercises are helping us validate and adjust the plan based on the reality we hear from people on the ground,” Bilodeau said.
“Because whatever we plan in an administrative office may not be realistic enough to survive the reality on the floors.”
