To date, 599 eligible applications have been received to be deployed to the Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Côte-Nord regions where staffing needs are severe.
The pile of resumés to be part of Health Minister Christian Dubé’s mobile health team is growing.
To date, 599 eligible applications have been received by the ministry to be part of the ‘flying squad,’ which the government intends to deploy in the Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Côte-Nord regions where the needs are severe.
“Among these applications, a few steps must be completed before arriving at the interview, including possibly passing a test,” the ministry said in an email.
So far, 194 people have been interviewed.
More personnel are likely to apply for the team after the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS-CSN) concluded an agreement in principle on Monday with the Coalition Avenir Québec government to supervise the team’s creation.
The FTQ and the FP-CSN have also signed interim agreements, which the ministry believes “will facilitate the hiring process and accelerate sending resources for the mobile team.”
“We hope that the agreement will allow two things: to accelerate the sorting and management of CVs, the actual creation of the team, and we hope that people will volunteer more,” said Réjean Leclerc, president of the FSSS-CSN.
It’s still unknown when or how many nurses and other health professionals will provide reinforcements in the three regions.
“Now, we are maintaining pressure so that the recruitment teams quickly deploy reinforcements on the ground,” Dubé said Monday on the X platform.
Leclerc argued that it is the ministry’s task “to sort and manage properly” the hundreds of CVs it has received.
“I can’t make a prediction at this stage because I don’t have all the cards in hand. The only one who has the cards in hand is Minister Dubé. It’s up to him to really get active with his teams to carry out recruitment,” he said.
The FSSS-CSN has more than 140,000 members in the public and private sectors, including 120,000 from all categories of personnel in the public health and social services network.
Leclerc said before the temporary agreement on the mobile team, three of its members had already volunteered and one person will be deployed next week.
Long-lasting solutions needed
The targeted regions are seriously lacking in nursing personnel and the FSSS-CSN does not represent the majority of nurses in Quebec. Leclerc said, however, that there are significant shortages for several other professions.
“There are also glaring needs at the level of youth centres, everything related to home care, caretakers,” he said. “There is data that suggests there is still a significant shortage in these types of jobs.”
With the temporary agreement concluded on Monday, the deployment of the mobile teams will be analyzed until March 2025.
“And in the meantime, we will agree on a more permanent agreement, which will be part of a collective agreement because the very idea of having a mobile team will remain,” Leclerc said.
Mobile team personnel will be entitled to a bonus of $100 per day, according to the agreement between the FSSS-CSN and the government. This is a lump sum linked to travel costs, and to this are added allowances linked to mileage travelled and meal costs. Adequate and safe accommodation must also be identified and reserved for staff.
According to Leclerc, flexibility is a very important aspect for staff.
“Beyond salary and remuneration, there is an issue that has been perceived and we have agreed with the government that this flexibility be found in the agreement. The aim is to repatriate staff who work in private agencies to the public agency,” he said.
“That said, there is still an issue for personnel who live in the Côte-Nord, Abitibi and Outaouais regions, and in this regard, the agreement provides for the acceleration of the work of a committee that was provided for in the collective agreement, which aims to put in place incentive and attractive measures to allow staff on site to find what they are looking for,” he said.
Leclerc said that several million dollars have been planned in the three regions to develop financial incentive measures.
“There is a reason why there is a shortage of staff — it is because people are leaving the region, so we need to analyze the reason. This must be remedied.”
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