Quebec is launching the new 2024-2026 action plan for the Quebec Cancer Program, focusing in particular on better access to screening, it was learned on Thursday. The Duty. This is a repeated request from organizations that work with patients suffering from these diseases.
In 2023, approximately 67,500 new cases of cancer were recorded in Quebec, an increase of 12,000 compared to 2015, the document states. However, the mortality rate due to these diseases has been decreasing in recent years. “As a result, more people are living with cancer. This reality, combined with the anticipated aging of the population in the coming years, is expected to put enormous pressure on the health system,” it writes.
Health Minister Christian Dubé has signed this plan, which is structured around eight axes, including the need to carry out early detection of cancers in all regions. To do this, he intends to support the establishment of a wider range of services for screening for these diseases through CLSCs, Family Medicine Groups (GMF) and local service points.
With this action, the Legault government aims in particular to achieve a colorectal cancer screening coverage rate of 42% by March 31, 2026. Since last February, Quebecers have been able to get screened for this type of cancer at vaccination centres that were set up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, you had to have a prescription or a request from a family doctor to have access to this test.
Minister Dubé also wants to allow Quebec women to benefit from “more accurate” cervical cancer screening. By December 31, 2025, he wants to make the human papillomavirus (HPV) detection test available in all regions, replacing the Pap test. This deployment, which is being done gradually, has already been underway since the fall of 2023.
Quebec also plans to assess the relevance of integrating women aged 40 to 49 into the Quebec Breast Cancer Screening Program. It will take a position after receiving the opinion of the Institut national d’excellence en santé et services sociaux (INESSS), which was mandated by the government to study the issue. Currently, the program instead sends a letter allowing Quebec women aged 50 to 74 to obtain an appointment for a mammogram.
As for the cost of the action plan, Minister Dubé’s office indicates that the investments necessary to carry out the actions are already planned in the budget of the Quebec Cancer Program.
“Concrete actions” expected
It’s a “good plan” that fits with the vision of the Canadian Cancer Society, says David Raynaud, senior manager in the organization’s public interest advocacy team.
“We are particularly pleased to see the inclusion of prevention in the plan’s axes. This is something new,” he emphasized in an interview with Duty.
The document, among other things, discusses deploying information and awareness campaigns on the environmental risks associated with the development of certain cancers, such as exposure to radon.
Mr. Raynaud hopes, however, to see “concrete measures” come out of this action plan. In particular, he would like to see the establishment of an organized screening program for colorectal cancer. Eligible people would then receive a letter allowing them to obtain an appointment to be screened.
Right now, the burden falls on citizens who have to find out about screening, argues David Raynaud. “With a program that sends out invitations, we estimate that more people could participate.”
He is, however, pleased that Quebec intends to collect more precise data in cancerology. For example, one of the actions of the plan is to support local cancer registries of health institutions, so that they transmit to the Quebec Cancer Registry preliminary information on new cases that they detect within six months of diagnosis.
Having this type of information is “the basis of everything when making public decisions,” says David Raynaud. “When we look at what is happening in the territory, it takes data. The faster we have it, the better we can realign services.”