Opening the door further to the private sector in health care, as the Legault government is considering, is 'extremely worrisome' and will only further weaken the public network, warns Quebec nurses' union, the FIQ.

The Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé and the FIQP (private sector) met with the media on Tuesday to share their expectations for Finance Minister Eric Girard's budget, which is to be tabled next week.

The FIQ and the FIQP are pleading for reinvestment in home care, in services for the elderly and for a law on nurse-patient ratios. They want an improvement in the working conditions of nurses and other care professionals in order to keep them in the public network, particularly by putting an end to mandatory overtime.

However, following recent statements by Health Minister Christian Dubé, in various media, it seems increasingly obvious that the government wants to make more room for the private sector in health care.

FIQ president Julie Bouchard said she believes that by doing so, Quebec will rather take from the public network.

"The government's primary goal is to reduce the waiting lists, which have been very, very high since the beginning of the pandemic. Now, even if we wanted to reduce these waiting lists, there is a lack of care professionals. There are far too few of them in the health-care network. So we have to do things differently. Is the private sector the solution? The answer is no, because we are dividing, once again, the public network," said Bouchard.

"This is extremely worrisome. The more we tend towards the private sector, the more we open the door to the private sector... At present, we know how much it can cost the taxpayer to go to the private sector. And it is all the more worrisome, when we could take these sums and reinvest them in real working conditions for care professionals and take all these amounts and ensure that the labour shortage diminishes quite considerably," said Bouchard.

IN THE BUDGET

On the contrary, the FIQ believes that more must be invested in the public network so that it becomes attractive again and offers better access to care for citizens.

The "crisis of working conditions" must be resolved and this means reconciling work-life balance, "respecting the workday" by no longer imposing overtime, having attractive shifts and positions.

Bouchard recalls that $5.3 billion was allocated to temporary COVID premiums during the pandemic. She believes that this money should now be kept in the public health system for 'permanent measures.'

She points out, for example, that Quebec has an institutionalization rate of 18.4 per cent for people aged 75 and over, compared to an average of 6.1 per cent in other provinces.

"Keeping seniors at home should be a priority in the Girard budget," said Bouchard. The FIQ is aiming for 40 per cent public coverage of home-care services.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 15, 2022.