Bill 15 has caused much ink to flow since it was tabled in the National Assembly by the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, on March 29. And with good reason. This is neither more nor less than the minister’s biggest test, the cornerstone of his overhaul of the system, the main element on which he will be judged in the coming months and years.
Since it is so important to the minister, it would have been natural for him to turn all the stones and seek to mobilize civil society as never before. However, since the beginning of the consultations, we have been witnessing an exercise which seemed to us, if not exhaustive, rather rapid. Faced with this feeling of haste, we pointed out last May 11 in the National Assembly the absence of several groups during the consultations, including some of us. Instead of our system being reformed by a few high-ranking people, we would have appreciated a collective revolution that was driven from below, rather than emanating from government offices.
But all is not over. The bill is not yet final. We have therefore decided to roll up our sleeves and continue our efforts to show Minister Dubé that we can find new ideas and forge consensus around three crucial issues for the future: the decentralization of the system, governance and citizen participation. This is why on May 29, in Montreal, we held our “For real change” meeting. During this exercise, 26 experts and representatives of organizations revolving around the health and social services system discussed these three issues directly related to the reform launched by Bill 15, under the attentive ear of 150 observers. face-to-face or online.
The findings are first of all that fruitful discussions can still give rise to innovative solutions in Quebec.
All of the participants demonstrated that collective intelligence can be as useful for the future of our health and social services system as management experience.
Then, the participants agreed on the fact that if the government is going in the right direction on one aspect, it is of course on the need to reform the system. However, the route currently taken does not seem to meet the concerns of the experts. We agree that reliable data and relevant indicators must guide certain decisions. They must also relate to the evaluation of the improvement in the health of the population. On the other hand, it will be necessary to go further on the ways of reinventing the first line, of devoting home care as a mission in its own right, of operating a change in culture, of including mechanisms for managing change and operationalize genuine local management, including local governance by and for users.
Together
How can we achieve this ideal? Only one way: together. If the meeting of May 29 has demonstrated anything, it is the need to get out of the current model of ad hoc consultations often organized within very short deadlines, not allowing everyone to express their point of view. and to understand the reality of others. And the government is included in this analysis. It is more necessary than ever to have an ongoing national conversation about the evolution of our health and social services system.
The parliamentary session is coming to an end and the detailed study of Bill 15 will probably continue in the fall.
Our position is above all one of openness, but we do not accept the observation that the consultations have been sufficient so far for the minister and a few influential senior officials to decide.
We’ve already acted too often in this film.
It is important to remember that the health and social services system is a collective insurance that Quebecers have given themselves to ensure access according to their needs. This time the government has a greater responsibility than ever, and so do we. We will continue to mobilize and continue to propose concrete improvements to this major reform of our most important collective asset: our health and social services system.
* Co-signatories: Pierre Lynch, President of the Quebec Association for the Defense of the Rights of Retired and Pre-retired Persons; Pierre Hamel, President of the Provincial Regrouping of Users’ Committees; the Dr Félix Lê Phat Hô, for the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Decentralization of the Health System