The Ministry of Health manipulates the data it disseminates in its dashboard in order to embellish the portrait of the network, accuses the Parti Québécois (PQ) which is pressing Minister Christian Dubé to be held accountable.
The PQ observes “disturbing changes to the dashboard” which makes it possible to measure, for example, waiting times to be seen in the emergency room or even access to a family doctor.
“We are playing with the figures to somewhat manipulate public opinion on health performance,” says PQ MP Joël Arseneau, PQ health spokesperson.
For example, the table no longer measures the percentage of people with access to a family doctor as before, but the share of those who have “access to a front-line service”.
This increased the number of patients treated from 78% to 88% in one month and to 90% today. However, when we look in detail, we realize that the 90% includes 630,411 people who are waiting for a doctor at the GAP, the MP is indignant.
Another change: the target of 36 hours to have access to a medical consultation, a promise made during the 2018 election campaign. The target of 36 hours remains in the dashboard, but it now measures requests processed at the access counter to the first line (GAP) within this period.
“In some cases the situation has even deteriorated downright, even though the picture suggests the opposite,” says PQ MP Joël Arseneau. The data “offers a truncated portrait of reality in the network, which we are visibly trying to embellish”.
Explanations requested
The Ministry of Health’s dashboard was launched in May 2022. It measures 13 access indicators: to the front line, to specialized medical services, to the emergency room, etc.
This is not the first time that the Ministry of Health’s dashboard has been singled out. The duty recently highlighted implausibilities in its data on waiting times in psychiatry. After the article was published, the government committed to cleaning up the data and added a warning next to the table in question.
The Parti Québécois also noted problematic indicator changes in the 2023 Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Health. According to him, the government must provide detailed explanations on this subject during a special session in a parliamentary committee, what is called a “mandate of initiative” in parliamentary jargon.
More details will follow…