18 hours ago
Fewer service disruptions expected in Quebec's health-care network this summer
Santé Québec, the Crown corporation that oversees the province's health-care network, announced on Tuesday morning that it expects fewer service disruptions this summer compared to last year.
But some regions such as the Mauricie, Centre-du-Québec, the Laurentians, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Côte-Nord remain under surveillance, said Robin Marie Coleman, Santé Québec's assistant vice-president of access and care pathway co-ordination.
"The teams at Santé Québec's head office have deployed a new tracking tool that will provide us to have a real-time picture of how things are going everywhere in the province in order to be able to provide support when needed," she said.
Coleman explained that, historically, the pressure on health-care services increases between mid-June and the beginning of September — mainly due to staff vacations and tourism across Quebec.
According to her, 80 per cent of service disruptions have been avoided so far for the summer season.
For the remaining disruptions, 90 per cent already have measures that have been identified or implemented to try and avoid them, said Véronique Wilson, general manager of network co-ordination and operations support at Santé Québec.
To manage interruptions, Wilson added, the Crown corporation plans to set up service corridors between regions, transfer patients to other hospitals, request support from employees in other regions and deploy a "public flying squad" — which consists of 246 employees working primarily in remote areas to maintain access to health-care.
Julie Delaney, director of the CISSS des Laurentides, presented the plan for her region to reporters.
Among the initiatives in Delaney's plan are massive recruitment efforts and the opening of 2.5 additional operating rooms per day — which could mean 300 to 350 more surgeries this summer than last. Every region in the province has a plan tailored to their local realities.
Provincial summer planning began in March.
