Background
On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, Health Minister Christian Dubé officially presented his action plan for the healthcare system in Québec. According to Minister Dubé, this plan, which is broken down into 50 measures and aims for a 2025 horizon, intends to offer Quebecers care on a human scale that is both efficient and effective. He was accompanied by the Minister of Health and Social Services, Lionel Carmant.
Following the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, several shortcomings in the health care system have become apparent. The plan announced today is the first major milestone in the Quebec government's response.
Many of the proposed measures will have to be specified by laws and regulations in the coming months and even years. It is also a cornerstone of the Coalition Avenir Québec's electoral platform for the upcoming October elections.
As the health sector is one of the pillars of our work, we are pleased to share with you the main aspirations presented in the plan today.
Key proposals
Improving access and quality of health care:
Implementing one-stop access for all primary care.
Decompartmentalization of professions in the health care network, particularly for pharmacists and ambulance attendants. Allowing more medical acts to professionals other than physicians.
Changing the way family physicians are paid to encourage better patient management.
Setting up command centers in hospitals to manage emergencies.
Complementarity between the public and private networks.
Better supervision of the use of private agencies (mainly on the nursing side).
Improving the quality of meals offered in nursing homes.
Massive recruitment of personnel:
Hiring of administrative resources to lighten the workload of care personnel.
Hiring of 1000 nurses from abroad.
Implementation of accelerated training programs.
Promote retention of existing staff:
Eliminated mandatory overtime in routine operations management.
Implemented a system of local self-management of schedules in facilities. Ability to change shift duration (could be two 12 hours shifts instead of three 8 hour shifts).
Promote work-life balance for front-line staff.
Modernization of the network's real estate and technological infrastructure:
Implementation of a single digital health record.
Deployment of an integrated human resources, financial and procurement management system to provide better access to data and facilitate decision-making.
Building new seniors' homes.
Adding beds in hospitals.
Accelerated renovation and expansion of existing hospitals and nursing homes.
Better funding for the health care system:
Changing funding for facilities to be more patient-centered.
Call for an increase in federal health transfers.
The proposed major undertaking is ambitious and such decentralization of such a cumbersome system will require many adjustments along the way.
We will continue to monitor the situation for you and inform you of the changes as soon as possible.
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