CHU de Québec: The majority of healthcare professionals have already considered or are considering quitting
The president of the Syndicat interprofessionnel du CHU de Québec (SICHU-FIQ), Nancy Hogan, along with representatives from the union and healthcare professionals, addressed the CHU de Québec’s CEO and Board of Directors to denounce the major issues with recruiting and retaining healthcare staff and to tell them immediate action is required to avoid a service breakdown.
The union gave the Board of Directors a document featuring the main results of a member survey. Several survey responses reiterate the same demands that were given to the employer in the past, time and time again. “We hope that the management at the CHU de Québec will see these results and take action to improve conditions for the sake of the healthcare professionals and their patients,” said Nancy Hogan.
The survey brings to light many problems healthcare professionals at the CHU de Québec face and 63% of them said they had thought about quitting or are thinking about quitting. These figures worry the union, especially since conditions are only getting worse. Healthcare professionals have to deal with an impossible workload, mandatory overtime, unappealing positions, refused vacation requests and unstable work schedules. They’ve lost hope that their working conditions will ever improve.
The union is wondering if the employer truly wants to improve the situation. After an important legal decision was made in 2017 condemning the CHU de Québec for having violated the collective agreement by systematically forcing employees to work overtime, the employer once again began to use this abusive and illegal management method.
“The situation is alarming and we are asking the employer to listen to its employees’ despair and to work with us to remedy the many issues,” added Ms. Hogan. The union deplores the fact that after a five-year period, only 50% of the healthcare professionals hired stayed on. It feels that the CHU de Québec has a pitiful track record when it comes to retaining its workforce. “If nothing is done very quickly to change things, then the CHU de Québec’s ability to treat the population of the Capitale-Nationale and Eastern Quebec region, through its tertiary mission, will be compromised,” concluded Ms. Hogan.
To read the SICHU document, go to: http://www.fiqsante.qc.ca/chuq/brochure_urgence_agir/