Quebec doctors call for an end to healthcare cuts before next provincial budget tabled

Quebec’s medical professionals are calling for an end to the government’s $1.5 billion healthcare cuts, which they claim compromise “the accessibility and quality of care.”

The president of the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ), Dr. Vincent Oliva and the vice-president of the FMSQ and president of the Association des spécialistes en médecine d’urgence du Québec, Dr. Gilbert Boucher, held a press conference Wednesday on the cuts in Quebec’s health network in anticipation of the next provincial budget being tabled March 25.

Doctors working in the province’s ailing medical system have long warned that government cuts will affect services.

“There was plan for this winter to have things better,” said Dr. Boucher. “But all those plans were put on ice when the budget cut was announced.”

“We feel that the relations between Saint-Équipec and the Ministry are complicated,” said Dr. Oliva. “We don’t know exactly who’s doing what.”

This past December, the FMSQ called for an immediate moratorium on budget cuts in the health network affecting direct services to patients while Dr. Oliva denounced cuts that health institutions were beginning to implement to eliminate $1.5 billion in expenses to restore a balanced budget in the network.

“The reality is that in the system we see that we don’t have access to all the healthcare workers that we need,” he said. “The equipment that we need, and so we’re going the wrong direction.”

Effects of healthcare cuts far from minimal

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé has acknowledged that cutting $1.5 billion could impact services, but that efforts will be made to minimize it.

However, Quebec doctors say that the consequences of these cuts have been far from minimal.

Postponed surgeries, lack of funding, underutilized equipment for important tests, lack of access to rehabilitation, gaps in the monitoring of patients with chronic illnesses: the repercussions of these cuts are numerous, they say.

Dr. Oliva noted various issues from medical professionals being fired to the suspension of purchases and non renewal of equipment.

Since the Federation’s last press conference in last December, the impacts of budget cuts have unfortunately been revealed.

Job cuts and hiring freezes in the context of labour shortages, suspension of programs, halting the purchase and non-renewal of equipment, non-authorization of additional time despite waiting lists, the impacts on patients are no longer a secret and are aggravating the pressure on an already weakened network.

“The impacts of the cuts are directly felt in access to and quality of care provided to patients,” said Dr. Oliva in the press release.

“It is imperative that the government end this in its next budget and take the opportunity to provide sufficient resources to caregivers to do their jobs. It must also provide Santé Québec with the means to obtain the necessary leeway to carry out its mission in partnership with health professionals.”

“We see real impacts on the patients,” said Dr. Oliva. “And the government initially told us that the 1.5 billion of cuts would not affect patient care, but that’s not what we see.”

“We see that since last time we spoke,” he added. “It’s getting worse.”

In a statement to CityNews, Santé Québec says: “The analysis of the measures proposed by the institutions to achieve a return to budget equilibrium continues.  Santé Québec is carrying out this exercise while trying to minimize the impact on patients.”

“When the influenza season comes, it’s the month of the year where we need extra resources,” explained Dr. Boucher. “There’s no more healthcare workers during that month, so the only way to increase the services is to help ask the people who are there to do some extra hours to help the system just during that month, and during this month we didn’t get that help.”

The federation says it is imperative that the government ends this if there are to be any clear signs of progression.

“Next year we’re going to have 2-6 per cent more elderlies and sicker patients,” said Dr. Boucher. “If we don’t increase, even if we increase by 3-4 per cent, we’re going to be the same thing. So we need to even be better than that if we hope to have a better season next year.”

CityNews reached out to Quebec’s Minister of Finance Office for comment and they said: “There is no comment on the budget before it is tabled.”

Hospitals feeling the effects of healthcare cuts

The impacts of cuts have been felt on the ground as Quebecers try to access emergency healthcare services.

According to the Quebec Index Santé site, currently in Montreal, the stretcher occupancy rate is at 141 per cent, as of 11:30 a.m.

The highest stretcher occupancy rate is at the Royal Victoria-MUHC-McGill University Health Centre (Glen site) at 203 per cent.

The average length of stay in waiting rooms currently stands at six hours.

Average length of stay of people waiting on stretchers, based on yesterday’s data is currently 22 hours and 1 minute.

The occupancy rate in other areas looks as following:

• Laval: 171 per cent
• Lanaudière: 131 per cent
• Montérégie: 146 per cent

The FMSQ says that Santé Québec, like the Ministry of Health before it, continues to work in a vacuum, without maintaining a dialogue with the field.

“We are in a dead end, and we are not the only ones to say so,” reads the press release.

“We cannot improve the efficiency of the network and access to care by excluding those who provide it from decisions.”

-With files from The Canadian Press