In Quebec, more than 17,000 patients have been waiting to go to the operating room for more than a year. In Estrie their number is 1648.
The province hopes to bring that number down to 2,500 people by Dec. 31, 2024 in Quebec. In Estrie we want to reach 216 patients by the same date. Recall that a year ago in the region the number of people waiting for surgery for more than a year exceeded 1,800.
To achieve this goal, Quebec has allocated $400 million to encourage nurses to stay in the operating room evenings, weekends and holidays. The province says it wants to take a voluntary approach.
The deputy director of the specialized surgical services at CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS, Sonia Lepire, points out that the health facility is already working hard to reduce waiting lists.
We have been working at CIUSSS de l’Estrie CHUS for more than a year to precisely restore our waiting lists, restore our total uptime, that is 100% of our capacity.
she emphasizes.
” Minister Dubé’s plan, once analyzed, will probably give us additional leverage to complete our already existing action plans. It’s a bit premature for me to say whether it’s realistic or unrealistic. We take note of this and will integrate it into our existing action plans. »
We are aware that in order to achieve the Ministry’s goals, which are quite ambitious, we will have to use our capacities to 100%, plus our specialized medical clinics, which we call our private blocks. We have four in Estrie
She adds.
However, the CIUSSS is aware that it lacks the manpower to open its six operating rooms in the Eastern Townships at maximum capacity. They are currently 75% open, but the health facility is targeting 100% opening next spring.
An impossible goal, according to the union of nurses
The Union of Care Professionals of the Eastern Townships is very skeptical of the government’s announcement. According to interim president Stéphanie Goulet, Quebec’s goals are simply impossible to achieve.
Our members already work more than their full-time hours in operating rooms due to on-call shifts that disguise overtime. Saying “voluntarily, do more” won’t work, we know that
she bangs.
” These are dreams with unicorns. »
In my opinion, all employees are overwhelmed to the extreme and have on-call duties in the evenings, at weekends and on workdays anyway. I don’t think it’s going to be easy here in Sherbrooke
adds the orthopedist Jean-François Joncas.
With information from Marion Bérubé
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