The plan, outlined in a 90-page paper entitled “Human and Effective – Plan for Implementing Necessary Health Changes,” outlines some solutions to the system’s aggravated challenges, such as staff shortages and rising costs. and the aging of the population. Health Minister Christian Dubé and Lionel Carmant, Quebec junior health minister, presented details of the plan Tuesday morning. Dubé said one of his main goals is to ensure that all Quebec residents have “the best patient experience and are proud of their health care system”. Among the 50 proposed measures, which were leaked in a document received by Radio-Canada last week, are the abolition of mandatory overtime for nurses, the recruitment of 3,000 new staff by the end of the year to take part in the bureaucracy, more care in home. services for the elderly, modernization of access to medical data and creation of electronic health records accessible to patients. Many measures aim to create a “more attractive work environment” for health professionals, especially nurses. To this end, the government promises to overstate the system so that it can handle absences without relying on forcing nurses to work overtime. The plan is to launch a “massive” recruitment campaign, including the recruitment of more than 1,000 nurses from abroad. Each company will also have the ability to manage its own schedules, with the input of staff. The government also wants to reduce the system’s reliance on private providers to provide temporary nurses and paramedics. Currently, many hospitals and long-term care homes rely on these providers to fill positions when they are understaffed, at a higher cost. The new health plan document does not include costs, but Dubbe noted a 6.3 per cent budget increase for the health system next year. Last week, Finance Minister Eric Girard said the increase would be for the upcoming system upgrade. But money is only part of the solution, Dubé said. “You need more than money – you need the willingness to work differently.”
One stop service for Quebec without family doctors
Quebec is also planning to change the way family doctors are paid, from operation to operation on a per-patient basis, in an effort to get those doctors to take on more patients. There are about 945,000 Quebec residents still on the waiting list for a family doctor, according to the document. Dubé said the government is still working to reduce the number of people on this list, but is backing away from the 2018 promise to get a family doctor by the end of the CAQ government’s first term this year. The plan now calls for enhancing first-line care alternatives, including giving more power to nurses, paramedics and pharmacists to treat patients. According to the plan, Quebec residents will call a one-stop phone number, where a nurse will direct patients to the appropriate medical service, whether it is a visit to a doctor or to line them up with some other method of care. . “It’s not just theoretical. It has already begun,” said Dubé, who showed a pilot project in the Lower Saint-Lawrence area. Dubé said he hoped the “majority” of people without a family doctor would be able to use the one-stop service by the end of the summer. The hope is that under this plan, fewer Quebec residents would need to go to a hospital emergency room for health issues that could be addressed elsewhere. However, reforms are also being proposed in the operation of emergency rooms, with the aim of reducing the waiting time in each emergency room to no more than 90 minutes, the document said. Each hospital would have an “administration center” to deal with the reduction in waiting time. The center will be staffed by staff from a variety of sectors, including the home care team and mental health professionals. The center will aim to discharge patients as soon as their condition is no longer critical, but will ensure that the patient “will continue to benefit from out-of-hospital services if his or her state of health so requires”.
