(Quebec) Unable to reach the targets of its catch-up plan for surgeries, the Legault government will give priority to Quebecers who have been waiting to go under the knife for more than a year. Quebec confirms that the deadlines announced last year will be postponed.
Posted at 11:08 a.m.
The waiting list for surgery continues to grow in Quebec as the Omicron tsunami “upset” the plans of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé. Since October, some 7,500 Quebecers have added themselves to the lists reported Wednesday The Press. According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), dated January 29, some 158,933 Quebecers are waiting for surgery.
“It’s nice to watch the operations that are overdue, but it’s the most 12 months. […] How do we want to make sure that we [met l’emphase] on the operations that are the furthest behind,” said Minister Dubé on Wednesday, on the sidelines of an announcement for the recruitment of nurses abroad. Deputy Minister D.D Lucie Opatrny “is currently focusing on operations that are more than a year late”.
“I would like to reassure everyone: I speak to Quebecers and nurses too. We’re coming out of two years of a pandemic and the worst thing we could do is try to fix a two-year problem in three months. We will not put additional pressure on the nurses when we need them. What will have to be found is the balance, that’s what is most important,” said Mr. Dubé.
As of January 29, 36,247 patients have been waiting 6 to 12 months for surgery. Some 12,860 others have been patient for 12 to 18 months, 4,483 for 18 to 24 months and 3,512 people for two years or more. If it wants to reduce the waiting list of those who have been waiting for more than a year, Quebec will have to prioritize the surgeries of some 20,000 Quebecers, according to the MSSS.
Targets pushed back
A meeting was held Tuesday evening between the MSSS, the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec and several associations of surgical specialties to discuss the Legault government’s catch-up plan, presented in June 2021. The MSSS confirmed to The Press that this strategy is maintained, but that the “different dates related to the different milestones” will be revised in the coming weeks.
“We are going to set a new agenda over the next few months,” said Minister Dubé, adding that he hopes to present his revised plan before the end of the parliamentary session.
In June, the Legault government had in its sights to reduce the number of pending operations to 150,000 as of October 2021 and, above all, to reduce the list of those who have been waiting for more than six months to some 42,000 names. Quebec missed its target even before the fifth wave of the pandemic. As of October 9, 151,352 patients were waiting, including 52,512 for more than six months.
In its initial plan, Quebec gave itself two years to make up for the delays caused by the pandemic. Does this scenario still hold? “It’s a bit early to tell for me, right now, I want us to stabilize the teams,” explained Mr. Dubé, who welcomed the contribution of the specialized medical clinics with which the government is working. is understood to minimize load shedding.
Without these contracts, we would do 59% of surgeries in Quebec, whereas we currently do 74%, according to Mr. Dubé’s office.
On Tuesday, the government announced the reinvestment of 400 million in the “resumption of post-COVID activities”, including offloaded surgeries. Sums that have been generated by the work of the Institute for the relevance of medical procedures. They will make it possible to carry out an additional volume of operations, estimated at 125,000, by 2023-2024.