Many service disruptions avoided in Quebec’s healthcare network this summer

More than 1,000 service disruptions—meaning a temporary closure of a health service or the unavailability of care—were avoided this summer, according to Santé Québec’s tally.

In a press release issued Wednesday, the government agency shared data from its first summer report, which it described as positive. Between May 15 and Sept. 15, 1,339 service disruptions were recorded, approximately three-quarters of which were completely avoided (1,029 service disruptions).

Santé Québec calculates that there were 310 actual service disruptions across the entire health network.

“We are very satisfied with the situation this summer. There is still room for improvement; we hope that every summer the situation will be better, with greater predictability. We think we’ll get there, but for me, what’s important is to put in place mechanisms to ensure that our population will always have access regardless of the situation or service disruptions that arise,” said Véronique Wilson, Associate Director General of Network Coordination and Operations Support at Santé Québec, in an interview.

All temporary service closures were accompanied by mitigation measures, emphasized Maryse Poupart, Vice-President – ​​Health and Social Services Coordination at Santé Québec.

“Obviously, we want to have care and services in the most normal setting possible. […] But our job is to ensure that care and services are provided everywhere in Quebec. And that’s why we’re drawing a positive, though imperfect, assessment. It’s positive, firstly because the number of [service disruptions] is lower, and [those] that have materialized, we’ve found solutions collectively to resolve them,” she says.

Patients transferred from hospitals

When a service or care cannot be provided to citizens, institutions first work to find solutions internally. “I would say that 80 per cent of our service disruptions will be resolved this way,” says Wilson.

If that doesn’t work, Santé Québec will put out a call for everyone to come and lend a hand, or staff from the public emergency team could be deployed. If these strategies are unsuccessful, there will then be a service disruption, but always with a contingency plan.

For example, obstetrics patients from Saint-Eustache Hospital had to be transferred to Saint-Jérôme Hospital, a distance of about thirty kilometers between the two hospitals.

However, not all regions can transfer patients nearby, since some facilities are far from each other. Julie Bouchard, president of the FIQ-Quebec Interprofessional Health Federation, pointed this out two weeks ago in an interview about the reduction in the number of hours worked in the network.

“We hear horror stories every day,” she said. Bouchard gave the example of a patient who had to drive an hour and a half to receive hemodialysis treatments three times a week.

Santé Québec tries to stay close, but Quebec is a large, Wilson pointed out.

“When that’s not possible, what’s important for us is to have quality and safe services for all our clients. That’s when we set up corridors. Sometimes there’s more distance for the corridor, but everything is done with safety in mind for the clients,” says Wilson.

A New Tool for Better Predictability

This summer, Santé Québec launched a new tool for reporting precarious situations. This tool is actually a form that establishments will fill out interactively and that will allow Santé Québec to collect data to provide a national picture of service disruptions and ensure daily monitoring.

“It’s a real-time tool,” explains Wilson. “So as soon as they have an overdraft planned, the establishments will notify us, and it’s very granular, allowing us to take very targeted action.”

The form will indicate which facility is experiencing difficulties, which clientele is affected, and what type of professionals is required.

“The facilities have their hands in the driver’s seat; they manage their environment and their territory. What we wanted, the added bonus, was visibility and predictability in assessing the various needs for the summer,” adds Poupart.

Santé Québec also issued calls for everyone to come and support staff where the needs were greatest. Calls for everyone are not new in the healthcare system, but Poupart believes it worked better this summer thanks to the arrival of Santé Québec, which allows for more calls.

The deployment of the flying team was also helpful in avoiding some service closures. The 260 members of the flying team, mostly orderlies and nurses, traveled to five regions this summer. They were primarily in Outaouais, Côte-Nord, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, and a few in Chaudière-Appalaches and the Laurentians.

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The Canadian Press’s health coverage is supported by a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for this journalistic content.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews