Quebec’s healthcare reform bill drawing criticism
Posted March 30, 2023 2:40 pm.
Last Updated March 30, 2023 6:44 pm.
Quebec’s new plan to reform the healthcare system is drawing some backlash and mixed reactions.
Bill 15 was tabled Wednesday and aims to create Santé Québec, an agency responsible for coordinating the day-to-day operations of the health and social services network.
The heath minister says a more organized structure at the top will lead to reduced wait times in emergency rooms and surgeries and improve the overall patient experience.
“Every time we have a new health minister there is a need to prove themselves and the only way to do it is to demonstrate that we need a new reform rather than fix things that are not working,” said Roberto Bomba, executive officer, Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec.
“Currently, their solution is always to break the structure, create a new reform, a new structure. So we went from 144 institutions to 34. So right now we have 34 employers and things are not perfect.”
The Santé Québec agency would turn regional health agencies – CISS AND CIUSSS – into councils that answer to them and monitor how effective services are and be the sole employer for all healthcare workers and just four collective agreements would exist.
“It’s a complicated document that maybe will bring back a bit more focused attention. An awareness of what’s going on in immediate communities, because the previous health care reform, you know, it didn’t centralize care,” said Seeta Ramdass, patients’ rights advocate.
“It actually polarized it because you created these big CISSS and CIUSSS, these great territorial monsters with the leadership at one end, close to some facilities, but completely away from the other ends where they’re not connecting to their communities or knowing what’s going on.”
On Thursday, the opposition critiqued the plan accusing the health ministry of reducing its responsibility.
The Premier says those parties want to maintain the status quo in healthcare.
“What we’re trying to do is give the capacity locally, with a manager in each establishment. To make the scheduling, where they can better share the resources. It will help the quality of life of nurses and improve services. I call this decentralization,” said Premier Legault, while speaking to reporters at the National Assembly.
The bill, if it becomes a law, would also create a position of National Complaints Commissioner and a national patients’ committee will be set up.
“As long as the local hospitals and centers have some kind of patient committee. That’s important. But I think at that provincial level, at that higher level, yes, those patient committees do need oversight,” explained Ramdass.
“But that oversight should be done by patients themselves with knowledge, not just community members that have that are retired politicians and retired doctors and retired friends of the political parties.”
But some say the only way to keep things afloat, is by attracting and retaining staff.
“You have to make sure that the new cohorts that are studying and nursing that are graduating, that they find a place that they feel that there’s a sense of belonging within the health care in the province of Quebec, so that we retain these new cohorts and that they don’t need the province to another province in Canada or leave Canada,” said Bomba.
