Weakened by the shortage of personnel, the health network is slowing down. Six emergency rooms in Quebec will have to “partially” close their doors this summer.
This was announced Wednesday, in a press release, the Ministry of Health and Social Services. “The staff shortage situation is difficult everywhere in Quebec, with 7,868 more absences than at the same period in 2021, for all reasons, for a total of approximately 59,600 people absent”, can we read in a press release of press published in the morning.
In practice, this means that the emergencies of Lachine, Montreal, La Mitis, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Fortierville, Centre-du-Québec, Témiscaming-Kipawa, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, as well as that those of Windsor and Coaticook, in Estrie, will have reduced opening hours or will have to temporarily divert the service by ambulance. “It’s still an effect that we will try to minimize,” said the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, when he was approached at the entrance to the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The elected CAQ agrees that “it will be even more difficult this summer”. Quebec has promised vacations to network employees exhausted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and recruiting efforts are stagnating. “It’s about 8000 people [en moins] for sick leave, permanent absence, he said. It’s difficult to recruit people, it’s extremely difficult. »
Minister Dubé ensures that the network will put in place mitigation measures in emergencies affected by closures this summer. “In each of these regions, we will have service corridors,” he assured.
“Total failure”
On Wednesday, the parliamentary leader of the Parti Québécois, Joël Arseneau, deplored a “failure […] total, lamentable and devastating” on the part of the government of the Coalition avenir Québec. Québec solidaire health spokesperson Vincent Marissal criticized Christian Dubé for “going on vacation without having a plan”.
” Not only [il] will not replace a quarter of the doctors who are retiring, but in addition, [il] was unable to bring caregivers back into the network. As a result, several hospitals in Quebec will suffer service breakdowns and emergency closures. […] How many people will come up against closed doors in Quebec emergency rooms this summer? he said in a statement.
The health spokesperson for the Liberal Party of Quebec, Monsef Derraji, sees the closure of emergencies as a symptom of the “chaotic management” of the Legault government. “A health system that costs us a billion [de dollars] per week with a poor result,” he tweeted on Wednesday.
The elected member of the official opposition fears that a situation like that of Senneterre in December will happen again. A man then died after a long ambulance ride, unable to seek treatment at the CLSC of the municipality of Abitibi-Témiscamingue because it was closed for lack of staff.
“Without clinic appointments, without a family doctor, without access to walk-in, people see the emergency room as a way out. And even that door is closed,” added Mr. Derraji in an interview.
The first-line access window promised by Christian Dubé to speed up the treatment of patients who do not have access to a general practitioner must be deployed in its entirety by 1er september