Shortage of staff, distress of caregivers and difficulties in accessing health care: the College of Physicians of Quebec (CMQ) published this Monday an alarming report on the state of the network in the province.
This document results from the tour of health centers in Quebec carried out by the College. The latter visited the Kuujjuaq Hospital in Nord-du-Québec, the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital and the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center (CHU) in Montreal, the Gaspé Hospital in Gaspésie, the Archipelago in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, the Hôtel-Dieu in Lévis and its Medical Teaching Pavilion, as well as the Le Royer Hospital in Baie-Comeau.
The CMQ concludes that “the mismatch between the supply of services and the demand for care is seen everywhere and creates frustrations”. “Some establishments do not meet the demand and struggle to provide all the services required in the places of care in their territory. »
In hospital corridors, team morale is affected by “the conviction that things will not be able to change in the medium term,” he writes. “The atmosphere is heavy, smiles are rare on drawn faces and the discouragement is almost palpable. »
Among the places visited during its tour, the College noted that the wait for psychiatric care in Lévis reaches two years and that follow-up is difficult there. To gain access to specialist doctors, “patients resort to private care to bypass waiting lists, but cannot subsequently finance medical follow-up,” he adds.
On the North Shore, in Baie-Comeau, “the local population experiences constant anxiety regarding access to basic health care,” raises the CMQ. Recently, the occupancy rate of this emergency exceeded 300%. Many service interruptions occur there, as well as at the mother-child center.
In Montreal, the CHU Sainte-Justine has reached “the breaking point,” we write in the report. “The staff shortage is now systemic, particularly in anesthesia and child psychiatry. »
“Hard choices” have to be made every day at this hospital, due to exploding waiting lists and a lack of beds in the outpatient section and intensive care.
“Worrying” situation in Nunavik
In its report, the College also notes that Nunavik faces an “extraordinary reality”. “I am not convinced that the majority of Quebecers are aware. Nor that they would accept this level of care in their own region. Neither does the College! It’s a question of social responsibility towards the population of this territory,” says the president of the CMQ, Dr Mauril Gaudreault.
Two health establishments are located in Nunavik, the Inuulitsivik Health Center in Puvirnituq and the Tulattavik Health Center in Ungava, located in Kuujjuaq. “In none of the establishments is there an operating theater open 24/7. There are also no intensive care units, radiology examinations, scans or full-time specialist doctors,” the report points out.
The territory has a few dozen doctors who “are not enough for the task,” continues the CMQ. “These are fellow troubleshooters who, annually, fill in the equivalent of 200 weeks of medical coverage. »
In light of these findings, the College of Physicians of Quebec is therefore calling for a comprehensive care plan for Nunavik to be put in place by the Legault government, before the end of its mandate in 2026.