More precisely, these are five auxiliary nursing positions — three during the day and two in the evening — and four nursing positions — two at night and two day/night.
If on the one hand IUCPQ spokesperson Josée Morissette specifies that these cuts are the consequence of a reorganization at the bariatric surgery clinic, on the other hand she indicates by email that they will lead to the closure of the service harms the post-hemodynamic unit.
However, the addition of night shifts in several highly sought-after services was an important part of the government’s arsenal to reduce waiting lists for several sought-after interventions.
“The closure of the service at night was done in line with a reduction in night-time traffic,” she said, ensuring that users will be directed to another care unit which welcomes the same type of clientele and which has beds available.
The union worried about the quality of service
Sébastien Bouchard, president of the IUCPQ Interprofessional Health Union, is worried, especially since the cuts apply to experienced staff.
“Some nurses affected have more than 16 years of experience,” he explains. We are therefore beginning a process of supplanting employees with more seniority who will supplant the younger ones.”
The institute actually serves more than 30% of the Quebec population, according to data from its most recent 2023-2024 annual report. (123RF)
Even if management promises “that there will be no impact on the service offered to users” and that their support “will remain the same”, the union believes that the consequences will inevitably be felt on staff and, in the medium and long term, on users.
-“In the short term, we will have an overload of work,” insists Sébastien Bouchard. We cover a population of 2.5 million people here. Patients will continue to be on waiting lists. It is only a matter of time for this overload of work to transform into overtime which will inevitably become obligatory.”
The Institute of the Third of Quebecers
The institute actually serves more than 30% of the Quebec population, according to data from its most recent 2023-2024 annual report. Nearly 15,000 patients underwent interventions during this fiscal year: bariatric, thoracic and cardiac surgeries, in addition to hemodynamic and cardiac electrophysiology interventions.
“In addition to this job cut, there is a hiring freeze,” insists Sébastien Bouchard. To restore budgetary balance, the IUCPQ had already postponed the entry into employment of around twenty candidates for the practice of the nursing profession (CEPI) initially planned for January of this year, reported the daily Duty in mid-December.
Santé Québec and the government singled out
Barely a month after the formation of Santé Québec, the IUCPQ Interprofessional Health Union is already against the new government decision-making method. The new agency received the ambitious order to cut the budget by one and a half billion dollars while preventing citizen services from being affected.
According to Sébastien Bouchard, an effort of twelve million dollars is being requested from the IUCPQ. An aberration according to him, since the establishment is a reference care center.
“The quality of care here is A-plus, it’s in our culture. But if we start doing C-minus, it’s not us, it’s the order that comes from above, deplores the president of the union. I do not blame our managers or our leaders, but the decision-makers at the top, who, I find, did not take us into consideration.
Cuts which could still prove risky, especially in a context where the specificity of our public health system will be part of the determining criteria of our identity when compared to our American neighbors.
