Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé tells reporters the province could use thousands more nurses to answer its tele-health line, which is supposed to free up emergency rooms. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)
The province's health minister is pleading with qualified nurses, asking them to sign up and lend a hand to the 811 service, saying the province's telehealth staff are overwhelmed with an increase in calls.
On Thursday, Christian Dubé said the province is looking for retired nurses, those working in the private sector and nursing students. He said they can sign up on the province's recruitment website called Je contribue — French for "I pitch in" — that was launched at the start of the pandemic.
Dubé said the province needs 3,000 qualified people to step up but added Quebec "could take up to 5,000 nurses to answer the phones."
"If there are nurses that want to help us over the coming weeks, there are good schedules. It's work that can be done part time."
When Quebecers call 811, the first option on the menu is for Info-Santé, where nurses assess a caller's symptoms and offer medical advice. The second option is for parents of sick children, under the age of 18.
Those two services received 5,000 calls each on Wednesday, according to the health minister, and it's a volume of calls that's too high for current staff levels.
The service now lets callers know how long the waiting times are, Dubé said. He said the province wants to create a virtual waiting room, allowing callers to leave their number and have 811 staff call them back instead of waiting on the line.
"But to do that, I have to be certain that a nurse will be able to call back the patient," Dubé said, implying that without more staff, it would be difficult for nurses to take care of callbacks.
The health minister, who formed a crisis task force in late October to tackle the issue of overcrowded emergency rooms, said the issue is far from resolved, but there has been progress. READ MORE...
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