Québec City, September 30, 2021 – In her 2020-2021 Annual Report, Québec Ombudsperson Marie Rinfret pinpoints major flaws in the health and social services network. Noting that some of the most vulnerable people do not get the services they need and have the right to, the Ombudsperson is urging government to acknowledge recurrent problems and quickly adopt and implement solutions. Government must put an end to the intolerable situations and inequity exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Headlines aren’t enough," insisted Marie Rinfret. "Promises have to produce results. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that vulnerable people paid the price for problems that were long known, recognized and documented. For example, all of us were shocked by what we saw and heard about CHSLD residents left on their own by exhausted staff."
This year, the Protecteur du citoyen published a progress report about the weaknesses in CHSLDs during the first wave. The testimonies from the people who witnessed events first-hand are troubling. In its report, the Protecteur du citoyen spells out the priorities for action. More broadly, the Protecteur du citoyen has seen that often, corrective measures lag for ensuring a real response to the pressing needs of people with physical disabilities, parents of children on the autism spectrum, or young people in difficulty.
Examples of persistent shortcomings in the health and social services network
- People with disabilities who must live in a residential resource are hard-pressed to find a format given their specific situation. The Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux announced metrics, but concrete gains have yet to materialize.
- Year after year, the slate of home support services is insufficient for expressed needs, even though home support is an alternative to hospitalization and residences. Regional disparities persist and new exclusion factors are added to existing ones in a culture based on cuts rather than on services.
- Overcrowded hospital emergency rooms jeopardize the quality of care and patients’ safety. There are solutions, but they are slow to be implemented. For example, how people move through the system could be better planned.
- Complaints about private seniors’ residences (RPAs) once again brought into relief problems amplified by the pandemic: short staffing, mistakes in administering medication, inadequate monitoring of the premises, and ill-adapted services. RPAs are not always supervised properly by CISSSs and CIUSSSs.
A few figures
Among the main grounds for substantiated complaints, four causes for dissatisfaction about the health and social services network recur the most often:
- Poor service quality (21.4%);
- Lengthy wait times (18.4%);
- Failure to uphold rights (13.7%);
- Conditions and the living environment (13.1%).
In 2020-2021, the Protecteur du citoyen intervened with:
- 34 of the 52 health and social services institutions;
- 22 of the 90 other institutions affiliated with the health and social services network;
- 57 private seniors’ residences;
- 16 community organizations;
- 6 prehospital emergency services;
- 3 private or community resources for a vulnerable client population.
A major gain for children born in Québec
The Protecteur du citoyen published a special report on Québec-born children who did not have access to health insurance because of their parents’ precarious immigration status. One of its recommendations was that children in this situation quality for the public health plan at birth. In December 2020, a bill was tabled in response.
The Protecteur du citoyen, which acts impartially and independently, ensures that the rights of citizens are upheld in their dealings with public services. The Ombudsman’s services are free and user-friendly.
See the highlights of the Protecteur du citoyen’s 2020-2021 Annual Report in the Annual reports section.
– 30 –
Media Relations:
Carole-Anne Huot
Phone: (418) 646-7143/Cell: (418) 925-7994
Email: carole-anne.huot@protecteurducitoyen.qc.ca
