Safe ratios: a remedy to the work overload

Mobilization against work overloads is at the heart of the action plan that your union representatives adopted to demand the introduction of safe healthcare professional-to-patient ratios in the Quebec health network. Indeed, healthcare professionals are in the best position to denounce the dangerous effects of excessive workloads on patient care, as well as the significant risks to nursing staff, who are already exhausted.

As employers stretch you to the limit and demand more and more from you, your union teams will support you in the coming months to denounce the work overloads, assist you in taking control of your organization of work, and launch local mobilization campaigns.

“The remedy? Ratios”

For many years, the FIQ has been campaigning for the implementation of safe healthcare professional-to-patient ratios in the health network, a solution that has been outright rejected by the CAQ government since it came to power. However, many Canadian provinces have recently moved toward implementing ratios, and the positive effects on nursing staff are already being felt. The 2026 Quebec election campaign will undoubtedly be an opportunity to hammer home the importance of safe ratios to candidates and the public, and to remind them that several organizations support the implementation of safe ratios, including the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec and the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers auxiliaires du Québec.

While the implementation of ratios requires political intervention, the impetus to convince others of the merits of this solution can only come from the mobilization of healthcare professionals in the field. It is the managers, clinical directors and the minister of health who have the power to introduce ratios. We must put pressure on them, otherwise they will keep choosing contingency and non-replacement plans.