2020 provincial budget: Réseau FADOQ calls for urgent investments in health care
With one week to go before the second CAQ budget is tabled, Réseau FADOQ urges the Legault government to do something about the critical issue of safe staffing ratios in healthcare settings.
Canada’s largest seniors’ organization is calling for new healthcare provider-to-patient ratios to be implemented across Quebec over the next fiscal year.
Provincial policymakers cannot continue ignoring the issue, given the promising results shown by the pilot projects implemented in 2018—projects so successful that they were all extended beyond the initial pilot phase.
Organizational mistreatment and burnout are direct effects of understaffing. Processes and procedures must be tailored to reality and to the needs of both patients and caregivers.
“It feels like we’re repeating ourselves, but we have to humanize the system by supporting all healthcare providers so they can deliver quality care to patients. We need to rethink how work is organized, promote the health professions, and do away with mandatory overtime,” says Réseau FADOQ president Gisèle Tassé-Goodman.
Make long-term care more financially viable
Réseau FADOQ also encourages the Legault government to review the parameters governing what adults in long-term care facilities are expected to pay.
The value of the personal assets factored in when determining whether an adult in a long-term care facility qualifies for an exemption or reduction has not changed since 1983.
”The reality is that long-term care facilities are getting more and more expensive, and fewer patients can qualify for the exemption. It’s not right for people to go broke just to get a spot in a CHSLD or future senior home,” says Tassé-Goodman.
Increase the caregiver tax credit
Réseau FADOQ is calling for the CAQ government to double the amounts for each component of the caregiver tax credit so the amount paid out is $2,500.
“In the last election campaign, Coalition avenir Québec promised to increase the tax credit to $2,500. The next budget needs to deliver on that promise,” says Tassé-Goodman.
Réseau FADOQ notes that 20% of caregivers are not financially secure, and their responsibilities result in the loss of an average of $16,000 in income per year.
Establish a pension plan insurance fund
These requests are part of the 36 recommendations Réseau FADOQ submitted to Finance Minister Éric Girard during the pre-budget consultations. The organization also took the opportunity to remind the Quebec Government to better protect workers’ interests.
After Minister Girard declined the request, Réseau FADOQ encouraged the public posted on the National Assembly’s website calling on the government to review the laws that protect pension plans.
“The premier must publicly state whether he agrees with the minister of finance. Our organization urges Mr. Legault to create a structure to keep more workers from getting robbed of their benefits in the near future. Otherwise, the premier will have the plight of more retirees on his conscience when their pension plans are terminated,” says Tassé-Goodman.
