(Quebec) The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, presents Bill 19 which aims to “alleviate the information problem” in the imposing health and social services network, which was singled out during the first wave of the pandemic. The bill establishes a whole “legal framework for information”.
Minister Dubé presented Bill 19 on health and social services information and amending various legislative provisions at the Salon Bleu on Friday. The legislative text aims to allow better access to data in the imposing Ministry of Health.
“I have tabled a bill which just alleviates the information problem” experienced in particular during the first wave of the pandemic, argued Friday the Minister then questioned on the management of the crisis in CHSLDs. It is known that the government itself struggled to access data on the ground.
“We lacked information and one of the reasons we are tabling a bill today is so that managers […] have the right information to do the right thing, ”he added during the question period.
Bill 19 essentially establishes a specific legal framework for information in the health and social services sector.
The objective is to have a more detailed knowledge of the data in order to “improve the quality of the services offered to the population and to allow a management of the health and social services system based on the knowledge of the needs of the people and of the population. consumption of services.
It even authorizes a professional, for example, to have access to certain information “held by an organization”. […] when necessary ”for a service offer. It also provides that a researcher who meets certain conditions can obtain authorization to access health or social services information.
The legislative text also provides for the designation within the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) of “a manager of authorizations for access to information”. It will have the role of authorizing, in other circumstances and subject to compliance with certain conditions, access to such information.
One of the goals is to decentralize information while managers in the field should have access to data quickly.
Measures for the protection of information
The protection of information will be ensured, according to the government, through several provisions of the future law.
The bill “gives the organizations themselves obligations in matters of governance and the protection of information, in particular the obligation to adopt a policy that implements the rules defined by the Minister, that of designating a person responsible for the protection of information ”
The legislative text gives the Access to Information Commission the function of monitoring its application and consequently grants it powers of inspection, investigation and ordering. It also gives it the function of reviewing access and rectification requests, and in certain cases provides for a right of appeal to the Court of Quebec.
Thursday, Minister Dubé affirmed that his bill would make it possible to know “what is happening in the health network”.
“We are going to table a very important bill that will go through several elements to ensure that the government, now, will have all the information on what is going on in its network to be able to properly manage, that we did not have at the start of this pandemic, ”he said Thursday.
Access to data was lacking during the first wave of the pandemic. In her damning report on the crisis in CHSLDs, the Ombudsperson raised it.
“In March 2020, Quebec health authorities did not have any information infrastructure enabling them to carry out effective health surveillance, essential to the management of a pandemic. We had to develop a first system in a hurry, then a following. All this has led to its share of confusion, ”wrote Marie Rinfret in her report tabled last week.