Quebec launches plans for at-home hospitalization across the province

As part of efforts to tackle hospital overcrowding, the Quebec government has announced plans for patients to get hospital care at home.

The idea for virtual care started nearly a year and a half ago at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.

In January 2022, because of the pandemic, the Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre (CIUSSS) West-Central Montreal network, which oversees the Jewish General Hospital, was concerned whether there would be enough staff to care for patients.

So the hospital came up with a programme of hospitalization and recovery at home.

Now, 15 months later, based and the model developed at the hospital, virtual care programmes are now being rolled to the other seven health-care networks across the province, including Montreal, Laval and the Quebec City region.

According to hospital officials, patients who volunteer would be allowed to continue their hospitalization at home while being monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week by medical staff.

Each patient will have an electronic tablet linked to sensors that will monitor blood pressure, heart rate and other indicators.

“The ministry announced that their goal, once all these eight sites are working, is to have five per cent of hospital capacity,” explained Dr. Lawrence Rudski, virtual care director at the Jewish General who helped start the programme.

“So for a 500-bed hospital, that would be a 25-bed unit.”

He added that the programme at Jewish General Hospital is still being refined  because there are still improvements to be made, but since last year they’ve had 350 patients from across the CIUSSS West-Central Montreal in their virtual care initiative.