Miscommunication over Quebec City clinic costs lead to closure

QUEBEC CITY – The opposition Parti Québécois demanded Health Minister Gaétan Barrette visit a Quebec City health clinic in person before he denied their request for funding.

Barrette did not pay the visit and on Friday, the clinic was forced to close.

However, it might all be due to an error in communication.

Personnel at the SABSA co-operative clinic spent their last day trying to find referrals for their patients.

A mother, who is also a full-time student, is worried she won’t get the same quality of care at another health clinic.

“We see someone right away. We don’t need to wait hours and hours when the baby is sick,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We see someone right away. We don't need to wait hours and hours when the baby is sick," she said.

The SABSA co-operative is a nurse practitioner clinic serving almost 1,600 patients at no charge.

“We receive a lot of vulnerable people, but we also receive a lot of people who stay in this area who don’t have access to health care because we don’t have enough physicians,” explained nurse practitioner Isabelle Tetu.

READ MORE: Quebec Health Minister visits refugee health clinic in Montreal

She explained nurse practitioner clinics, where nurses, instead of doctors, provide care to increase access to health services at a lower cost, are becoming common in Ontario.

Funding for SABSA to stay open has been tight.

Tetu had hoped the government would provide some additional money, but the health minister said the clinic is operating at too high a cost.

“If we compare the per-visit cost, it’s around $91 in Montreal,” Barrette said Thursday at the National Assembly.

However, Tetu argued it costs only $68 per visit at her clinic, even if Barrette is under the impression that it is much more expensive.

How did they get their wires crossed?

“He doesn’t want to meet us. We have the news from the news, from the media. We don’t have the news from him,” said Tetu.

The PQ called the government’s decision to not fund the clinic an “affront to nurses.”

“What he’s saying is, even if they work well, even if they fulfill patient needs, even if they take care of more vulnerable patients at a very low cost, they won’t get any autonomy,” said Parti Québécois health critic Diane Lamarre.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "What he's saying is, even if they work well, even if they fulfill patient needs, even if they take care of more vulnerable patients at a very low cost, they won't get any autonomy," said Parti Québécois health critic Diane Lamarre.

Barrette said he would like to see the SABSA nurses incorporate their services in a larger health centre, but Tetu insisted she wants to help patients who aren’t getting the care they needed in existing clinics.

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SABSA has a social media financing campaign to raise the funds needed.

If they meet their objective, they would be able to re-open in May.

To donate, you can find the link here.