Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Reporter
Outaouais’ health and social service provider (CISSSO) has said none of the five Pontiac imaging technicians who have been offered higher paying positions in Gatineau and Papineau have confirmed with CISSSO they are in fact leaving their jobs.
“The plans are not definitive, it’s something they’re considering, but nothing is confirmed from any of the five,” the healthcare network’s Pontiac director Nicole Boucher-Larivière told THE EQUITY.
She said negotiations between their union, the Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS) and the provincial government are still ongoing.
“We’re confident the discussions are going well so I’m still hoping they’re going to be able to resolve the difference,” Boucher-Larivière said, adding she believes some of the technicians are waiting on the outcome of those negotiations before they make their final decision.
“I’m not minimizing, there is a real risk. But right now we’re still at a waiting phase where we’re waiting to see what will come out of the negotiations that are still going on provincially.”
Meanwhile, Guylaine Laroche, president of the APTS’ Outaouais chapter, says the union has not heard from the government on the subject of extending full bonuses to all radiology technicians since representatives met with Quebec’s Deputy Minister of Health Richard Deschamps on July 25.
She said in that meeting, the union was clear that if hospitals in Maniwaki and Shawville are left with only one full-time imaging technician, the safety of patients in these communities would be at stake.
Laroche said the union also highlighted the fact that Pontiac radiology services help to slim waitlists in Hull and Gatineau, so a loss of technicians in this region will also affect services in the urban centres.
“We felt we had been heard, and they promised us a quick return on the matter,” Laroche told THE EQUITY in French.
She said the union was supposed to meet with the province again two weeks ago but the meeting was cancelled and the union hasn’t heard from the province on this matter since.
“We remain available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for negotiations, but for the moment, we’re waiting to hear back from the government,” Laroche said.
CISSSO considering contingency plans
Boucher-Larivière said the healthcare network is looking into how it would address various scenarios depending on how many of the six full-time technicians currently working at the hospital decide to leave.
“In the past we have been down as low as three [technicians at the hospital] and we were able to keep essential services going,” she said. “The worst outcome for the population would be having to wait a little bit longer for some imaging testing that’s not considered urgent.”
Boucher-Larivière explained that in the past, the network has addressed technician shortages by putting more of the staff members on call, rather than having them show up to regular shifts, to ensure there is always somebody available to respond to an emergency situation.
“But sometimes we have to reduce the amount of hours they’re actually at work so that would mean having to wait a little bit longer for tests that are not mandatory,” she said, adding CISSSO would also try to seek support from technicians working elsewhere in the Outaouais who could fill vacancies in the Pontiac until the hospital finds more permanent staff.
“Nobody wants to dictate anybody, because we want them to have a good quality of life, but if it comes down to essential services being at risk, sometimes we do move people around to assure safety, but that’s usually a very last resort,” she said.
Regarding finding long-term solutions to the chronic staffing shortages in the Pontiac, Boucher-Larivière said a provincial table has been put in place, the members of which will meet throughout the fall to examine how to support better working conditions in the Outaouais’ healthcare services, given the competition the region faces with Ontario.
She said at this table, CISSSO is advocating for healthcare workers in the Outaouais to receive salaries that are on par with those in Ontario.
“We want to see what the discrepancy really is, we want to get the right numbers, so that we can negotiate and maybe we can get special status for the Outaouais, so it is a top priority for us,” she said.
“So now we’re trying to get the imaging situation sorted out but the work that’s being done is going to go far beyond that.”