I wanted to talk to you this morning. There has been a lot of talk about Bill 15 in recent days. We are making good progress with the detailed investigation in the National Assembly and I wanted to explain to you how this will give you better access to our healthcare network. For you we have to make it more efficient and more humane and we work on it for you every day.
• Also read: Letter from six former Quebec premiers concerned about the impact of the Dubé health care reform
First let me take a little journey back in time. The pandemic has highlighted the gaps and challenges facing our healthcare network. Together we realized that the status quo was not possible. From this observation, the health plan emerged in March 2022. Then in March last year we presented Bill No. 15 to make our healthcare network more humane, efficient and effective.
Our bill is based on four key principles: better access to healthcare for Quebecers, local management across the network, greater community ownership of healthcare professionals and a better patient experience.
How many stories have you heard or even experienced yourself of facilities that cannot care for a patient because they do not have the correct zip code, or of employees who want to help one hospital but cannot because they are assigned to another Furnishings? It is not normal. We have reached certain limits. Furthermore, the report by Dominique Savoie, then Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services, noted this after the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. That has to change now.
Specific changes to ensure better access
Any changes we are currently making are designed to give you better access to healthcare services. To achieve this goal, we must equip ourselves with better clinical governance to give our managers the necessary levers to ensure better care from all professionals, regardless of where they live, but also better flow in the treatment process. Care to shorten the waiting time.
Here are some concrete examples that provide greater access. You can now know where you are on the waiting list for surgery. You must now also have the operation within a reasonable time and, if this time is exceeded, you must have the operation free of charge in a private clinic or in a region other than your place of residence if you wish. So if you live in Montérégie and have been waiting for surgery for a year, but a spot opens up in Drummondville the following week, you can choose to have surgery there.
Better coordination is required for patients
With Bill No. 15, we particularly want to create Santé Québec, which will allow us to break down silos but also apply best practices more effectively.
Anywhere on the network. Thus, its creation allows greater flexibility and better coordination of operations in the field, especially in emergencies, in surgery and with the Service Request Dispatch Center (CRDS). This is not about centralization, quite the opposite: we have to promote local management.
- Listen to the interview with Christian Dubé on Mario Dumont’s microphone QUB radio :
All companies will continue to focus on their local characteristics and characteristics, but will also work better together. Therefore, each of them must be part of Santé Québec. Everyone is part of the solution and must participate in the collective effort.
Decentralize for better coordination
Some people claim that Santé Québec is centralization, but the opposite is true. First, the first gesture of decentralization comes from the separation of the alignments that remain within the ministry and the operations that remain within the network. How many times have you heard that instructions from above don’t leak? Unfortunately, too often. There is no longer any need to prove that we need to have a network that communicates with each other, distributes resources and responds quickly to problems.
For this reason, Santé Québec will be there for coordination and local managers will be there for decision-making and administration. The law even stipulates that all decisions must be made as close to the patient as possible at the decision-making level.
In conclusion, clinical management will continue to be carried out locally, but Santé Québec has the necessary levers to apply best practices elsewhere, as requested by the Commissioner for Health and Well-being, Ms. Joanne Castonguay. After all, it’s no longer you adapting to the network, but the network making itself more accessible to you.
The patient is at the center of all decisions
In addition, Santé Québec must measure customer satisfaction across Quebec. A national user committee will be established so that patients’ voices can be heard and corrections can be made when unacceptable situations arise. This allows us to offer you high quality care and services that meet your needs, whether for clinical care, social services or even home care.
The big changes in our network have already begun. The improvements we want to achieve with Bill 15 are part of the vision of our health care plan. They require courage. We have all the political will to go all the way. We cannot undertake half-hearted reforms. We owe you that.
Your Minister of Health,
Christian Dube
Your opinion
interests us.
Do you have an opinion you would like to share? Would you like to submit a text between 300 and 600 words to us?
