MONTREAL – Health Minister Gaetan Barrette tabled a bill Thursday to completely overhaul Quebec‘s health care system.
But with these proposed changes, English institutions across the province are worried about whether or not they will be able to keep their independence under the new reform and whether there could be a negative impact on the quality of life of their patients.
“I’m scared that the kids won’t get services that they need,” Judy Martin, the Chair of Batshaw Youth and Family Services.
“We’re a little bit scared that when we’re swallowed up as a big institution, which is what it seems we are going to become, that our kids will be forgotten.”
According to Bill 10, the goal is to “facilitate and simplify public access to services, improve the quality and safety of care and make the network more efficient and effective.”
READ MORE: Quebec’s Health Minister promises ‘substantial’ changes to network
The bill means to do this by merging hospitals, youth protection centres, mental institutions and other health facilities under 28 boards of directors, as opposed to the current 200.
- Alberta to overhaul municipal rules to include sweeping new powers, municipal political parties
- Canada, U.S., U.K. lay additional sanctions on Iran over attack on Israel
- No more ‘bonjour-hi’? Montreal mayor calls for French only greetings
- TikTok vows to sue over potential U.S. ban. What’s the legal outlook?
Across the province, the bill proposes to abolish 18 regional agencies and merge around 180 health and social services centres into 28 mega-centres.
Montreal would be split into five Centres integrés de santé et de services sociaux (CISS): west, centre, southeast, north and east.
On Montreal’s West Island the government proposes completely abolishing the boards of directors of eight institutions and merging them all under one board.
“We have an enormously engaged board of directors,” said Martin.
“We have clinical staff, we have administrative staff, members of the community, with different areas of expertise that we need to govern. There’s no guarantee that that’s what’s going to happen with the new board.”
The seven institutions to be merged are:
- West Island Health and Social Services Centre (including Lakeshore Hospital)
- Dorval-Lachine-Lasalle Health and Social Services Centre
- Sud-Ouest-Verdun Health and Social Services
- Douglas Institute for Mental Health
- West Montreal Readaptation Centre
- Grace Dart Extended Care Centre
- Batshaw Family Services Centre
- Sainte-Anne’s Hospital
In central Montreal, the government proposes merging ten institutions under one board of directors.
- Jewish General Hospital
- Saint Mary’s Hospital
- Miriam Home
- Jewish Elder Care Centre
- Mount Sinai Hospital
- Cavendish Health and Social Services Centre
- De La Montagne Health and Social Services Centre
- Maimonides Geriatric Centre
- Gingras-Lindsay Readaptation Centre
- Constance Lethbridge Rehabilitation Centre
The boards of each of these institutions would be abolished.
The MUHC, the CHUM, Sainte-Justine Hospital and the Montreal Heart Institute, will continue to operate with their own boards of directors according to the bill.
But the minister would have the power to appoint the members of the board including the president and director.
READ MORE: Government reaches a deal with general practitioners
The bill also proposes to give the Health Minister “new powers with regard to the regional and supraregional institutions, in particular the power to prescribe rules relating to their organizational structure and management.”
Despite worries from the English community, Barrette insists Anglophone rights will stay protected.
“I understand people have an emotional attachment to their institutions,” he said.
To read the entire bill:
Comments