At least 12,000 operations were canceled in Quebec between September and the end of January, according to data compiled by The duty and obtained from 26 health establishments. The Federation of Specialist Physicians of Quebec (FMSQ) insists that this number must be reduced to catch up with the backlog in surgeries. The government responds that a “slogan” has been issued to managers in order to avoid the cancellation of surgeries at the end of the day. He says he is staying the course on his target of 7,600 patients waiting for surgery for more than a year as of March 31. An objective deemed “unrealistic” by the FMSQ.
Quebecers learn every day that their long-awaited surgery has been postponed. Between 1er September and the end of January, at least 12,000 operations were canceled in the province. Establishments justify these cancellations for multiple reasons: more urgent cases to operate; lack of staff or beds; surgeries that are more complex and longer than expected leading to delays in the operating room schedule; patients infected with COVID or in a condition not allowing intervention; non-compliance with the preparation protocol by the patient, nurse strike days, etc.
In Outaouais, 811 surgeries were canceled in hospitals between 1er September and January 31, i.e. 24% of planned interventions. According to the CISSS of the region, the “lack of resources” explains “largely” these postponements. At the Montreal University Hospital Center (CHUM), the surgery cancellation rate rose to 9.5% for the same period. According to the establishment, almost half of the 828 cancellations recorded are linked to “unforeseen medical emergencies” or to patients (medical reasons, “non-compliance with surgery preparation criteria”, withdrawal of consent or lack of consent). ‘a guide).
The CISSS des Laurentides, for its part, reports 550 surgeries canceled between October 10 and January 20, or 8% of planned operations. It specifies that 32% of cancellations are due to the management of “emergency cases”, 35% are attributable to patients (medical condition, poor preoperative preparation or absence for the intervention), 15% are linked to the “program operative” and 10% to “lack of staff or unavailability of the surgeon” as well as to a problem in the organization (e.g.: lack of equipment or administrative error).
In Bas-Saint-Laurent, hospitals canceled 89 surgeries “due to lack of operating time at the end of the day,” indicates the regional CISSS. This figure rises to 37 on the North Shore.
Too many cancellations at the end of the day, according to the FMSQ
The FMSQ believes that catching up with surgeries begins by reducing cancellations. She deplores the fact that many surgeries planned for the end of the day are postponed in Quebec. “Very often, we will cancel a case because we think it will end at 4:15 p.m. instead of 4 p.m.,” maintains the vice-president, Dr Serge Legault.
The union of specialist doctors wants Quebec to offer a “bonus” to teams who agree to stay longer to operate on the last case. He argues that the catch-up plan, presented in May 2023, provides $400 million – a sum resulting from an agreement between the FMSQ and Quebec and reinvested thanks to the work of the Institute for the Relevance of Medical Acts – to pay for the time additional voluntary. “But the catch-up plan has not been deployed,” says Dr. Legault.
The Minister of Health Christian Dubé indicates that a warning has been issued to health establishments in order to avoid the cancellation of end-of-day surgeries. “We’ve gone to see our CEOs twice now and told them: ‘There are still 150 cancellations per day,’” he said in a press scrum at the National Assembly on Tuesday. For me, this is not acceptable. We asked the CEOs to say how we can quickly improve this. »
According to him, the catch-up varies from one region to another. “I told the managers again: ‘You have a duty to open your operating rooms,’” he said. There are places where it is done and others where it is not done. There are also places where specialists are not as active as they should be. I think it’s a team effort to do together. »
The minister ensures that he is staying the course on his target of 7,600 patients waiting for surgery for more than a year as of March 31. This figure was 14,180 as of December 30. It rose to 13,339 as of January 27, despite strikes, the holiday season and staff vacations, underlines his office. “We had a very good month of January,” continued Christian Dubé in the press scrum. We have two months left. I think we have to continue to push the machine. »
To achieve the planned targets, the government is asking that 10% to 12% of surgeries performed be those of patients waiting for more than a year. Currently, this percentage is 6%. A team dedicated to surgeries was also formed, like the emergency crisis unit.
For the FMSQ, the target of 7,600 patients as of March 31 is “unrealistic”. “To think that it will go down by 7,000 cases in two months, in my opinion, it’s not possible,” says the Dr Legault.