The Quebec healthcare system defeated
For nearly 20 years, successive governments have claimed that all of the Quebec healthcare system reforms were going to improve it. Is that really the case? These reforms are based first and foremost on values that are often contrary to healthcare professionals’ values. Far from improving their day-to-day challenges, these reforms instead largely contributed to the downfall of our healthcare system.
Indeed, many of us see that front-line care and services are decreasingly accessible and that the curative approach is trumping prevention, that managers are far from care providers and the population, and performance has become more important than care. There is more time spent on administrative tasks than on human beings.
Workers are struggling to find meaning in their daily work now and are questioning their future within this network. This pandemic has exacerbated the consequences of the reforms, consequences that have been known and well-documented for a long time.
Last Friday, in an open letter, nearly 200 people, including the FIQ president, asked the government to question the values of the last reforms. We need to refocus the healthcare system on values that promote the network staff’s expertise and the population’s opinion.
« Le système de santé québécois mis en échec » – Open letter published in La Presse+ on November 20, 2020.