The Quebec Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, wishes to “redefine” the mission of CLSCs. On Tuesday, he suggested that emphasis could be placed on walk-in services. And added that in certain neighborhoods of Montreal, “it is more difficult to reach people for language reasons”, and that the CLSCs could meet their needs with this new orientation.
The MP for Marie-Victorin, Shirley Dorismond, a former nurse who worked in this network, will also begin a tour of the CLSCs of Quebec shortly with the aim of fueling this reflection, he said during the study of the appropriations of his ministry, Tuesday.
“With the arrival of the GMF [les groupes de médecine familiale]the CLSCs have been left aside,” agreed Christian Dubé, who said he wanted to give them back their “letter of nobility”.
One thing is certain, he said, CLSCs are ideally suited to handle home care and mental health cases. The minister also noted that in certain regions, CLSCs are the place to which the population turns to deal with a wide range of problems, a role more assumed by GMFs in large cities.
The CLSC network was developed during the 1970s. There are more than 300 in Quebec.
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