Latest news with #SantéQuébec
CTV News
22-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Half of Quebecers without a first responder service: auditor general
More than two-thirds of municipalities, home to half of Quebec's population, do not have a first responder service, according to the Auditor General (AG). In a report published on Thursday, the AG stated that in 45 per cent of 'very urgent' calls in these municipalities, ambulance attendants took more than 10 minutes to reach the patient. 'In the case of cardiorespiratory arrest, for example, each minute without intervention reduces the chances of survival by seven to 10 per cent. After 10 minutes, the chances of survival are almost zero,' he notes. First responders generally arrive on the scene more quickly to provide basic care, while ambulance attendants provide more advanced medical care and safe transport. The Act respecting pre-hospital emergency services stipulates that Santé Québec must take the necessary measures to support the establishment of a first responder service within the territory of each of its establishments. In winter 2025, a committee comprising the Ministère de la Santé, Santé Québec, the Union des municipalités and the Fédération québécoise des municipalités had still not reached agreement on how to fund this service. Moreover, between 2020 and 2024, Quebec ambulance attendants spent an average of half the time they spent in emergency departments waiting for their patients to be taken care of and restoring their vehicles. For almost a quarter of these interventions, the time spent in the emergency department exceeded an hour. Two of the three establishments audited by the auditor also carried out a 'grossly inadequate' number of checks on the quality of interventions carried out by ambulance staff, the report states. Nor does Quebec know whether the sums it pays to ambulance companies are 'reasonable,' given the lack of control. A 'failure in every respect:' opposition The opposition parties in the National Assembly were quick to denounce the bill as in 'shambles.' At a news scrum, Quebec Solidaire MNA Vincent Marissal insisted that life in Trois-Pistoles was just as important as life in the city. 'There are people in Quebec who have no services. (...) It's been going on for years. The government isn't interested. I don't know how many times I've spoken to Health Minister Christian Dubé about it. It's the least of his priorities,' he said. According to Marissal, the government's action plan for the pre-hospital emergency system, which aims to increase the proportion of the Quebec population covered by a first responder service to 80 per cent by 2028, is 'a failure in every respect.' 'We're a long, long way from achieving the results,' he said. 'What we're saying is: 'You live in the regions, you don't have first responders, there's no time to go and get you. If you fall ill, (...) good luck.' That's what we tell people.' Interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay pointed out that the Health Ministry does not have response time targets for 'very urgent' cases. However, targets do exist for 'non-urgent' and 'urgent' cases. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 22, 2025.
Montreal Gazette
16-05-2025
- Health
- Montreal Gazette
Hanes: Home-care recipients mourn death of autonomy
By Allison Hanes François Bourbonnière said he almost had to miss the demonstration against cuts to home-care services in Quebec outside the CLSC Rosemont. After fighting for and finally securing a second shower each week, his additional bathing appointment was scheduled for afternoons. Forced to choose between personal hygiene and other engagements, he then had to launch a whole new battle for a more convenient time-slot. 'I want my shower in the morning so I can be involved and live my life,' Bourbonnière said Wednesday, as a crowd of about three dozen demonstrators held a funeral procession of wheelchairs, motorized scooters and walkers from a nearby park to protest the 'death of autonomy' — and in many cases their dignity. This was just one of countless frustrations described by some of the most vulnerable Quebecers, who are bearing the brunt of budget cuts in the health and social services sector. Late last year, Santé Québec was given a mandate to find $1.5 billion in savings. Although this year's budget increased health funding, it doesn't keep up with rising costs in the system, which means programs and services are being squeezed further. The impact is ricocheting throughout the system, but reductions to home care are taking an outsized toll on those who wouldn't be able to live independently without assistance with meals, dressing and cleaning. Besides frail seniors, adults with disabilities and parents of children with special needs are also being left in the lurch. 'Not a week goes by that we don't hear from somebody whose hours have been cut,' said Rose-Marie Wakil, who is both a recipient of services and a caregiver for her elderly mother, as well as a service co-ordinator at Ex aequo, which organized the sombre event. Home care is dispensed by local CLSCs or through a program called Chèque emploi-service, which allows those in need of care to be refunded for services they arrange themselves. Despite the program being more cost-effective — accounting for 37 per cent of home-care hours across Quebec but nine per cent of the budget — many local health authorities have suspended new enrolments. Chèque emploi-service is especially popular with adults living with disabilities who have jobs or attend school because the hours are more flexible. Wakil said if someone comes midday to bathe her mother, it means she has to get dressed and undressed twice, which is exhausting. Or if the caregiver shows up at 6 p.m. to do her bedtime routine, it means she gets put to sleep early 'like a baby.' But it's not only home-care hours that are on the chopping block. A decades-old fund that subsidizes renovations to adapt dwellings for mobility challenges has been slashed. The 250 people on the waiting list now have to get in the back of the line seeking assistance from the City of Montreal's program. More worrying is that Quebec is mulling charging people for home-care services based on their incomes. Hugo Vaillancourt, who advocates for the rights of Quebecers with mobility challenges at Ex aequo, said such a move would roll back decades of progress on inclusion and integration. 'Like any kind of tiered, pay-based-on-your-income type thing, it's always problematic, because where is the cutoff going to be? Who's going to end up in the situation where they don't have that much money, but now they have to pay extra and the reason is that they have limitations?' he said. 'So people are being taxed because they have limitations or because they are getting older. That's a big concern.' Vaillancourt attended a consultation in Quebec City this week where Minister Responsible for Seniors Sonia Bélanger spoke about a forthcoming 'national policy' to accelerate the offering of home-care services. Some participants from community groups staged a walkout, singing a funeral march as they left. Bélanger has mused publicly about contributions from home-care users as well as turning to the private sector. Bélanger is also considering relying more on non-profit groups and volunteer organizations to deliver meals or provide transport. And she wondered whether home-care providers need to have so many professional qualifications as Quebec seeks to recruit an additional 6,660 caregivers to meet growing demand. The MNA said she wants the Chèque emploi-service program to be 'more accessible and easier to use,' according to Le Devoir. But that's not what those dressed in black and carrying cardboard tombstones back in Montreal are experiencing. After waiting years for an apartment in a specially adapted living facility, Frédéric McNamara, 30, finally moved in last summer. Now he is being told he would be better off in a nursing home. 'It makes no sense to send me to a CHSLD,' McNamara said. 'I work full time. I'm a video-game designer. ... I need assistance to get up, go to bed, prepare meals and feeding. But for the rest, I'm autonomous. I work. I can organize my transport and go by myself. In a CHSLD I'd have a room, but now I have a 3 1/2. I wouldn't have that in a CHSLD. I couldn't decorate it how I want. I wouldn't have a kitchen. When I moved, my goal was to take some of the weight off my parents' shoulders, who were my caregivers.' Linda Gauthier, 67, has received home-care services since 2005, but increasingly relies on her husband as she ages and her condition worsens. 'He's got another job. I have to call him at work to come if I have a problem. But if they cut that, I would have to go to the long-term care,' she said, noting that it could cost many times more than home care. Gauthier said she would take medically assisted death over moving into an institution. 'I'm telling you, I won't even go to the long-term care. I know I can have it — three weeks and everything will be done if I ask for medical assistance in dying,' she said. 'It's done with my notary, my husband knows about it. I'm so sure about it.' Some could soon have more to grieve than autonomy.
CTV News
07-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
CAQ still unsure when it will reach target of seeing emergency room patients within 90 minutes
The Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), photographed in Montreal on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. At the beginning of March, Santé Québec noted that the situation in emergency rooms had stabilized, and even improved in some regions. (The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes)
CBC
24-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Quebec passes law requiring doctors to work in the public system for 5 years after med school
Quebec has officially passed a law requiring doctors to work in the public health-care system for five years after obtaining a medical degree in the province. Law 83, adopted on Thursday by a vote of 72 to 30, is intended to improve access to health care for Quebecers by preventing doctors from exiting the public system for the private system. "The universal health-care system, financed by the people of Quebec, must enable everyone to consult a doctor when they need to," Health Minister Christian Dubé said in a statement. "The private sector can help to support the public network: we will ensure that this contribution remains complementary, always in the interests of Quebec patients." WATCH | Quebec bill would fine new doctors for ditching public system: New doctors in Quebec could face fines up to $200K daily for ditching public system for private 5 months ago Duration 2:02 Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé tabled a bill that would force medical school graduates in the province to spend their first five years working in the public health-care system. Law 83 also requires doctors to seek the approval of Santé Québec, the Crown corporation that runs the health network, to practise in the private system. Santé Québec will either approve or reject a doctor's request based on the following criteria: The number of available doctors in a region. The doctor's departure from the public system cannot lead to negative consequences for patients in that region. The inability of the public network to use this doctor in the establishments in that region. The law, titled An Act to Foster the Practice of Medicine in the Public Health and Social Services Network, includes the threat of fines for doctors who violate it. The fines, which could be applied to physicians who practise in the private system before spending five years in the public system, range from $20,000 to $100,000 per day, with repeat offences incurring fines of $40,000 to $200,000.
CBC
01-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Quebec wants to make it harder for doctors to go from public to private system
The Coalition Avenir Québec government is proposing restrictions for physicians who want to go from the public to the private health system, but an opposition MNA says the proposal lacks substance. Late last year, the CAQ tabled a bill to force physicians to practise in the public system for at least five years after graduating. Now, it's proposing amendments that would apply to all physicians — not just new ones. With the current rules, Health Minister Christian Dubé says it's too easy for physicians to go "back and forth" between the public and private system. A physician just needs to give the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ), the province's health insurance board, a 30-day notice to go from the public to private sector. On Tuesday, Dubé proposed amendments to Bill 83, the proposed legislation it tabled in December that focused on new doctors. Those amendments would require doctors to get formal approval from Santé Québec, the newest provincial Crown corporation that now oversees the public health system, before switching from the public to private sector. Santé Québec will either approve or reject a doctor's request based on the following criteria: The number of available doctors in a region's public health facilities. The doctor's departure from the public system cannot lead to negative consequences for patients in that region. The inability of the public network to use this doctor in the establishments in that region. WATCH | A breakdown of the private system's effect on the public system: Does private health care help or hurt the public system? In Quebec, it's complicated 8 days ago Duration 7:16 For decades, Quebec's public health system has been criticized for not meeting the population's needs. The province allowed the private sector to fill some of those gaps, but that hasn't lifted much of the burden off of the public system. The province's College of Physicians has said that it prefers an outright ban on doctors leaving the public system. The minister's amendments fall well short of that. "We want to make sure that we give flexibility, because I always said that the private sector is complementary to the public," Dubé said when asked whether the proposed rules are tough enough. Vincent Marissal, an MNA with Québec Solidaire, was quick to point out Tuesday that the province's Heath Insurance Act already gives the minister power to limit doctors' movements between the public and private system if they think it's in the best interest of a patient in a given region. As far as Marissal is concerned, Dubé is using the amendments to transfer that responsibility to Santé Québec. "It's a lack of courage on his part," the MNA said. He added that the minister should simply forbid doctors from breaking away from the public system. "We can't be speaking from both sides of our mouths," Marissal said. "We can't be saying that we want to bring people back to the public system while continuing to develop the private system." Fines for new doctors In its news release announcing these changes, Dubé's office points to data that shows that 820 doctors are practising in the private sector. Although there are about 22,000 physicians in Quebec, Dubé's office said the number of doctors who chose to opt for the private system represents an 80-per-cent increase compared to 2020. It also says that there 150 other physicians, mostly specialists, who alternated regularly between the private and public sector in the last year. As for new doctors, Bill 83 calls for fines ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 per day, with repeat offences incurring fines of $40,000 to $200,000, for physicians who leave the public system in the first five years after graduating. The bill, and its amendments, were scheduled to be studied extensively by lawmakers at the National Assembly on Tuesday.
