(Quebec) Quebec will deploy the home hospitalization service offer in five more hospitals in the coming months, continuing the implementation of this measure which aims to allow patients to continue their treatment at home while remaining under supervision of a medical team.
The Minister for Health, Sonia Bélanger, announced Tuesday that the Pierre-Boucher Hospital in Longueuil, the Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis, the University of Montreal Hospital Center (CHUM), the Anna-Laberge Hospital de Châteauguay and the McGill University Health Center in Montreal will offer home hospitalization in the coming months.
They will be added to the eight establishments in the greater Montreal and Quebec region which were the subject of an initial announcement last year. Four of them already offer the service, while the other four will do so by the end of the year.
Home hospitalization is done on a voluntary basis. It is only offered to patients whose condition allows it, in the opinion of medical teams, and who have the necessary support at home.
Thanks to connected devices, medical staff are able to monitor the patient’s progress remotely. Typically, the patient is given an iPad and this tablet is connected via wireless technology to sensors measuring blood pressure, heartbeat, blood sugar or other indicators.
At the same time, the length of hospital stay is reduced, which makes it possible to avoid greater deconditioning. This harmful consequence particularly affects hospitalized seniors.
Four home hospitalization projects are already deployed at the Lakeshore Hospital, the Jewish Hospital of Montreal, the Cité-de-la-Santé in Laval and the Charles-Le Moyne Hospital in Longueuil.
The service will be offered this summer at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal and at the Sainte-Agathe Hospital, then this fall at the Enfant-Jésus Hospital in Quebec and at the Pierre-Le Gardeur Hospital in Terrebonne.
During the 2022 electoral campaign, the Coalition Avenir Québec committed to deploying home hospitalization throughout Quebec by 2026.