Quebec nurses leaving public system for private agencies

Morenurses are abandoning the public health system for private agencies that pay higher wages and offer better hours, sometimes at the same medicial facilitiesfrom where they came.

According to a Journal de Montréal investigation published Thursday, morenurses are switchingto private agencies that often place them in the same medical facilitieswhere they once worked.

In 2005, 1,651 nurses worked for private agencies across Quebec, twice as many as a decade ago, according to the Journal investigation. They are assigned on a short-term, as-neededbasis to CLSC (Centre de Santé et de Services Sociaux) health clinics, long-term chronic-care facilities orhospitals facing staffing shortages.

They earn up to twice as much as public nurses and can chooseflexible work schedules.

The exodus is outrageous, and it's up to the provincial government to stem it, charged Michelle Boisclair, vice-president of the Quebec Nurses Federation. There wouldn't be hospital nurse shortagesif nurses were adequately paid andoffered decent working conditions, Boisclair said.

The government can't ignore the problem for much longer and should do more to match work conditions in the public system to what private agencies are offering, Boisclair added.

The federation vice-presidentdoesn't blame nurses for seeking more lucrative work arrangements, she said. But nurses should remember that they will beself-employedwithout benefits or pensions if they join an agency,Boisclair said.

The investigation suggested the bulkof nurses joiningprivate agencies is concentrated in Montreal, Quebec City, the Outaouais, the North Shore and Abitibi.