CALEB NICKERSON
PONTIAC Dec. 2, 2020
Over the past few weeks, doctors across the province have spoken out about what they call the “hyper-centralization” of management in health care facilities. The collective, made up of more than 700 physicians from all across Quebec have called on Health Minister Christian Dubé to reinstate local management positions, and give some . . .
autonomy back to individual health care facilities. At the time of publication, he had refused to grant the group an audience.
Several local doctors have lent their voices to the group’s cause, in addition to local elected officials.
One of those physicians is Dr. Tom O’Neill, who has more than 30 years experience working in the Pontiac and currently heads the anesthesia service at the Pontiac Community Hospital, among other roles. He said that he is in favour of the group and their goals and has encouraged his colleagues to sign the group’s letter as well.
“I think it’s a good initiative,” he said. “The government … doesn’t want anything to do with it, which is a bit unusual, because it’s a CAQ government. They’re basically rural-based, not urban, so it’s interesting they don’t want to do that. You’d think they’d be trying to support the rural areas.”
He gave an example of how the centralization of management that was brought about by the former Liberal government’s Bill 10 in 2015, has led to issues.
“The problems of the rural areas are quite different and we’re all thrown into the same thing,” he said. “Nowadays when I want to order equipment, it’s difficult to order equipment that’s necessary for programs, it was not that way in the past. Even though the population and the [hospital] foundation has raised money for it, I can’t order it. I have to go through a whole bunch of steps and it gets lost in some morass.”
He pointed to the Pontiac community’s push to purchase a CT scanner for the hospital as one project that would be much more difficult in the current structure.
“[The hospital board] could go along, present this to the community, say ‘This is something that’s going to benefit you’, and they jumped on board,” he explained. “Nowadays it gets lost in some bureaucratic shuffle in the city, and that’s not very efficient. It takes away from our independence. [Local managers have] lots of responsibility here, [but] not much authority to do things. That’s a big problem.”
He pointed out that there have been some benefits from closer collaboration with the city, such as less frequent service interruptions in the emergency room due to a larger pool of doctors. He added that recently, the regional director of professional services, Dr. Nicolas Gillot has also been visiting on a more regular basis.
“To be efficient, you need to know what’s going on, and that’s what we felt was not happening,” he said.
Pontiac Warden Jane Toller, when asked about the movement in a media scrum following the MRC council meeting on Nov. 25, she said that while she hadn’t yet read the letter, she was very much in favour of decentralization and more local control over health care facilities.
“I’m in favour of that, 200 per cent,” she said.
In an interview with The Equity, Pontiac MNA André Fortin said that he also supported the doctors and their goals.
“I think they raise valid points in regards to more local powers, particularly during this pandemic,” he said. “Anything we can do to simplify their lives right now would be good.”
He called the government’s refusal to even grant the group an audience “a slap in the face”.
“If enough doctors feel it’s necessary, it has to be considered by government,” he said, pointing out that the changes being asked for could be implemented under the framework of Bill 10.
When asked if he and his colleagues had made mistakes in their implementation of these reforms, he said that he was more focused on the ongoing conversation moving forward.
“I think the follow up is what’s important when you make big changes,” he said.
