Resignations at the IPS clinic | Dubé wants to understand what happened in east Montreal

(Quebec) Christian Dubé will carry out checks to “understand exactly” what led two nurses to slam the door of the new IPS clinic in eastern Montreal. The opposition accuses him of having done “no follow-up” to prevent this “shameful” situation.

“I’m going to be careful, that’s a bit of what I said to the Prime Minister this morning. When I saw the article, which worried me a little at first, I spoke to the CEO of the CIUSSS de l’est de Montréal,” the Minister of Health said on Friday. “I asked the CEO: can you tell me more about the situation and why it happened? […] Let me check what’s going on there, because our goal is to provide service. »

The Press revealed Friday that the only two full-time specialized nurse practitioners (IPS) at the nursing clinic, created a year ago, slammed the door due to issues affecting “the quality and safety of care.” In a letter, the two resigners report the “obstacles” encountered over the past year and the “lack of stability” of resources.

The creation of IPS clinics is one of the flagship measures of the crisis unit launched by the Minister of Health last year to relieve emergency room congestion. Deployed in record time, the Eastern clinic was the first to be inaugurated.

On Friday, Mr. Dubé wanted to put things into perspective: “It’s not a lot, it’s two nurses out of three who left. […] There is perhaps a case to be investigated in terms of what happened with these two nurses in particular, and in personal cases, I have learned through experience that one must be careful,” he said. he said.

Questioned in the House by the leader of the Parti Québécois, François Legault made similar remarks: “We have a problem with two nurses, two nurses. Then honestly, I think that the leader of the PQ should be careful before going too far on the situation of these two nurses,” the Prime Minister mentioned during question period on Friday.

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who is also a member of Parliament for Camille-Laurin in eastern Montreal, accuses the government of having “made an announcement by not doing any follow-up and not providing the necessary means for this clinic works.”

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon reported that the occupancy rate in the emergency rooms of Maisonneuve-Rosemont and Santa Cabrini hospitals was 135% on Wednesday. “So this is not a theoretical problem. The IPS clinic is no longer functioning, these nurses have raised their hands several times and I ask who takes responsibility for this situation,” he complained.

Reactivate the crisis unit

Liberal MP André Fortin, for his part, asks that the Minister of Health reactivate the crisis unit created last November to identify rapid solutions and relieve emergency congestion. “We wonder what remains of the crisis unit,” said the MP for Pontiac.

“I hope the idea of ​​IPS clinics wasn’t just a flavor of the day. When they were announced, Minister Dubé made a big deal out of it, an important and lasting solution to relieve emergency room congestion and provide different access to several patients. […] It’s one thing to make an announcement and it’s another to ensure that it works afterwards,” he complained.

Mr. Fortin also followed the Minister of Health a little earlier this week on the question of the crisis unit as pressure increases on emergencies with the return of respiratory viruses.

For the case of the clinic in eastern Montreal, Mr. Fortin asks the minister to intervene. “It takes a quick turnaround,” he said in an interview.

For solidarity activist Vincent Marissal, the situation is “shameful”.

“It’s shameful that we didn’t see this coming and that we weren’t able to maintain this because it was a good idea, easy to adopt. We are not in the process of mega structural reforms and what’s more, it is a great step forward for the IPS,” lamented Mr. Marissal. The member for Rosemont, in eastern Montreal, believes that this “fiasco” is nevertheless “recoverable” if the minister does his part.

“I ask the minister to quickly delegate a deputy minister to the field and to carry out a rapid post-mortem. No need to take six months. […] Let us go to the sources, look at what is not working and correct it,” he added. Mr. Marissal also affirms that he knows the CEO of the establishment, Jean-François Fortin-Verreault, well and has no doubt that he is “in good faith”.

According to the latest budget presented by Minister Eric Girard, Quebec plans to create 23 new IPS clinics within five years, including 6 in 2023, to increase access to the first line. The creation of these clinics will require total investments of 395 million by 2027-2028.

With Hugo Pilon-Larose