The transition committee of the new Santé Québec agency has submitted its first progress report. Twelve work projects have been set in motion, three of which have a “short-term” mandate to set up Santé Québec and merge health establishments. The others concern, among other things, coordination and fluidity, access to health care and services and socio-demographic challenges such as the aging of the population.
Created in January, the transition committee is chaired by Deputy Minister Daniel Paré. It brings together a dozen experts, such as deputy ministers of health, former presidents and general directors of establishments, the president of the Association of Emergency Medicine Specialists of Quebec, a nurse and a representative of a group of patients. Between January 12 and May 3, he held 17 meetings.
In its first report, the committee describes the mandate of each work site. The one on “proximity management” has the particular mission of hiring “responsible and more accessible installation managers (proximity managers) in the field”. “Each installation of a Santé Québec establishment is therefore under the supervision of a person responsible for ensuring the smooth running of its activities and the timely detection of abnormal situations,” it is written.
The access to care and services project has set itself the objective of improving patient care “by the right person at the right time”. It prioritizes the areas of emergencies, surgery and consultations with a family doctor and a specialist. It works on the issue of waiting list management allowing patients “to know their rank and to be offered other options in the event of waiting times deemed unreasonable”.
The clinical relevance is also the subject of work. “Considering the difficulty in getting recommendations and good practices down to the ground, particular attention must be paid to the means and mechanisms allowing their sharing and implementation,” indicates the transition committee. He adds that “the notion of “capacity of the State to pay”, with a view to equitable distribution of resources, must also be taken into account”.
The transition committee is due to submit another progress report on September 12 and January 12, 2025.
More details to come.