While more than 20,000 Quebecers are waiting for a mental health service, the Minister responsible for Social Services Lionel Carmant estimates that he will be able to “significantly” reduce this list within two years.
Mr. Carmant’s “priority” for the current mandate is to reduce waiting times for this type of care, he said during a virtual interview granted Friday to the To have to. If he prides himself on having made the population aware of psychological distress, access to mental health care is “what is the most difficult”, he admits, shortly after leaving the Blue Room of the National Assembly. .
As of November 19, 2022, 20,273 people were waiting for mental health services in Quebec, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS). On December 18, 2021, this number was 20,224 according to the MSSS.
“We are a bit stuck at 20,000”, recognizes the one who was Minister Delegate for Health and Social Services during the last mandate. And if it is impossible to reduce the lists for the moment, the increase in the demand for mental health during the pandemic of COVID-19 is in question, according to him.
But within two years, “we expect to see a globally significant decrease in waiting lists,” says Mr. Carmant, without however quantifying the expectations. According to him, psychological distress will descend to “more regular levels” in the coming years.
There will also be a “gradual increase in the offer” of mental health services, with the addition of professionals within interdisciplinary teams formed in particular by specialized nurse practitioners, social workers, psychologists and sexologists, estimates the deputy for Taillon. This is the approach at the heart of the 2022-2026 Interdepartmental Mental Health Action Plan.
An “unprecedented mental health crisis”
While Quebec is going through “an unprecedented mental health crisis”, the exodus of psychologists from the public network to the private sector must be curbed by raising their salaries, according to the 575 signatories of a letter sent last Thursday to the Prime Minister, François Legault, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, and Lionel Carmant.
The latter underlines his intention to respect this electoral promise of the Coalition avenir Québec. He asserts that the work of these professionals holding a doctorate is demanding and that this must be recognized “in their remuneration”. This increase can be addressed during negotiations with the Treasury Board in 2023, he said.
However, public network psychologists are currently unionized with a hundred other trades. It is therefore difficult for them to assert their own demands such as a salary increase, explains Karine Gauthier, president of the Coalition of psychologists of the Quebec public network.
“No specific salary request for psychologists was made in the list of demands submitted by the Common Front for the next negotiations”, underlines Mr.me Gautier.
According to Minister Carmant, these professionals must “work” with their union, but above all “wait for the offers to be on the table too”, he says.
But right now, many psychologists feel “caught in a dead end,” says Karine Gauthier. “Many are considering resigning, which we want to avoid at all costs. »
With Marie-Eve Cousineau