Health Minister Christian Dubé is on the verge of a revolution in the health network.
He has to file a bill Wednesday or Thursday for the creation of Health Quebec.
According to information from TVA Nouvelles, Santé Québec would become the single employer for the entire healthcare network.
The department would continue to provide direction, but it would be Santé Québec who would direct operations. The minister has already met with fifty business people to recruit seven to eight top guns to run Health Quebec.
In particular, 20% of specialists would be asked to provide more patient care, TVA Nouvelles learned.
The new law would also allow mobility of health workers from one region to another without loss of seniority.
Thus, a Bas-Saint-Laurent nurse wishing to work in Montreal would no longer be confined to the regional straitjacket of her CISSS and could retain her years of experience in her new region.
The same principle would also apply to the taking of long-term leave for medical staff.
The bill would also change patient services. These could now be treated in a hospital where beds and resources are available.
For example, a patient awaiting elective surgery in Outaouais could, if desired, be transferred to Abitibi if he can be seen there more quickly.
According to TVA Nouvelles sources, the bill would reduce the number of directors-general per hospital center to one.
The Office of the Minister of Health judges that the “status quo in the health network is not possible”.
The creation of Santé Québec is aimed at “two objectives in the minister’s health plan: to increase access to Quebecers and to become an employer of choice”, assures Christian Dubé’s cabinet.
“We know it won’t be easy. Ultimately, we all have a responsibility to make changes if we want things to change,” concludes the message sent to TVA Nouvelles.
-With information from Alain Laforest