(Quebec) Faced with growing waiting lists and exploding needs, the Quebec Association for the Defense of the Rights of Retired and Pre-Retired Persons (AQDR) is calling for the creation of a first-line network based on home “on the fringes” of the system.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The AQDR is asking the Legault government to fund and set up a kind of parallel network to the current health care system that would be specifically designed to meet home support needs. According to the association, Quebec must not skimp on any means to give a boost and reduce the number of Quebecers waiting for a home support service.
“I’m not closing the door to any solution,” launches the president of the AQDR, Pierre Lynch. “At some point, if we leave the machine in place to solve this problem, it will take three years, if not more. […] We have to check which are the appropriate services, the external suppliers that we could use for a period of time to speed up the process,” he continues.
This means making room for the private sector.
Yes for the private sector, but it must be controlled by the public.
Pierre Lynch, president of the AQDR
The Press reported Thursday that the lists for access to home support services continue to grow in Quebec despite significant investments by the Legault government. The number of Quebecers waiting increased by 10% in 2021-2022 compared to the previous year. This proportion reaches 20% for people who have been waiting for more than 90 days.
In its pre-budget brief presented to the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, the AQDR proposes that the Ministère des Finances “work jointly” with the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux to allocate “financial resources immediately dedicated to the construction of a real home care network. The AQDR does not quantify its demands, but wants Quebec to catch up with the OECD countries.
According to Alain Dubuc, a researcher at the Institut du Québec, the government should invest at least 1.8 billion more per year to catch up with OECD countries, which devote an average of 1.7% of their gross domestic product to health care. home. In Quebec, the proportion reaches approximately 1.3%.
A “universal basket of services”
The AQDR believes that setting up a network parallel to that of health and social services would make it possible to offer “a universal basket of services” for rural and urban areas. “We have to make sure that what is offered in Quebec and Montreal is also offered elsewhere,” underlines Mr. Lynch. In her 2020-2021 annual activity report, the ombudsman, Marie Rinfret, pointed to “significant regional disparities” in the service offer.
The Legault government ensures that it will have invested 2 billion “additional” dollars by the end of its first mandate. Quebec must also soon mandate the health and welfare commissioner, Joanne Castonguay, to review the home care model.