Doctors, patients, managers and workers unite to demand politicians make major changes to the healthcare system

MONTREAL, Oct. 23rd 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - In an unusual and unprecedented gesture, four organizations representing patients, physicians, workers and managers are uniting their voices to demand important changes to the public healthcare and social services system. "Confronted with the persistent problems in the healthcare and social services system, especially with regard to front-line services, we have decided to make common cause and to direct our voices to the political elites a year before the 2018 elections to propose 15 solutions to take into consideration in order to improve the situation." –said the president of the Alliance des patients pour la santé, Jérôme Di Giovanni.

The Alliance des patients pour la santé, the Association des cadres supérieurs de la santé et des services sociaux, the Québec Medical Association and the Confédération des syndicats nationaux are demanding major changes in the organization, the governance, the funding and remuneration processes, the delivery of healthcare and social services, as well as in the area of prevention. "At this time, health and social services represent more than 50 % of the state's budget, but the system is still struggling to satisfy the needs of patients and of the general population," –deplores the president of the Québec Medical Association, Dr. Hugo Viens. "In effect, we want to engage in a new and more inclusive and constructive dialogue. For us, it's the only way to get efficient and durable results to improve our healthcare and social services system," –continues the vice-president of the CSN, Jean Lacharité.

The solutions proposed by the four organizations concern specifically the front-line sector of care and services, which is the gateway to the healthcare and social services system. « We need stability and better collaboration with the local communities, » –continues the Chief Executive Officer of the Association des cadres supérieurs de la santé et des services sociaux, Carole Trempe. « We want the patients to play a greater role in the choice of orientations and in the decision-making as concerns services affecting them. »

The 15 solutions

FRONT-LINE services

• Transform the organizational culture and prioritize interdisciplinarity and innovative practices
• Ensure a continuum of care and of services, notably by consolidating the role of the CLSC's
• Improve and increase funding of care and of services for the elderly and other vulnerable persons

PREVENTION

• Increase funding for public health by reserving a percentage of the global healthcare budget to the public health sector
• Decentralize the management of public health policies
• Increase promotional activities toward improving healthy lifestyle choices in the population

FUNDING AND REMUNERATION

• Revise and stabilize the allocation of resources, in particular by adopting key performance and population needs assessment indicators
• Revise and readjust doctors' remuneration processes, as well as their incentives
• Establish a universal and public drug insurance plan

GOVERNANCE

• Revise the powers and functioning, as well as de-politicize, the boards of directors of the public healthcare and social services agencies
• Ensure real citizen participation, notably by creating a National Patients Committee and local consultation mechanisms
• Maintain the functions of the Commissaire à la santé et au bien-être, under the authority of the Assemblée Nationale du Québec, and guarantee its independence and its financial autonomy

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD

• Improve the image and status of the healthcare and social services professions
• Improve the image of the healthcare and social services network
• Develop and support co-management with the existing personnel at all levels of clinical and administrative management

SOURCE CSN

CSN : Jean-Pierre Larche, 514 605-0757 or [email protected]; QMA : Fabienne Papin, 514 567-1501; APS : Michel Bissonnette, Special Counsellor, 514 862-3184