Housing for seniors | Quebec contracts a first group of private CHSLDs

2023-05-22 05:32:00

(Quebec) After promising to step up the pace, Minister Sonia Bélanger announced on Monday a first group of five private CHSLDs which are becoming contracted, that is to say subsidized by the State, with the aim of harmonizing the supply of accommodation for seniors.

Posted at 1:32

Updated at 5:00 a.m.

Five private CHSLDs in Greater Montreal and Estrie have completed the agreement process, the Minister for Health and Seniors. This is the first group of private establishments which will become subsidized by the State since the end of a pilot project carried out under the direction of the former minister Marguerite Blais and which had made it possible to enter into agreements with three establishments, in June 2022.

The Legault government has provided 20 million per year for five years to contract the quarantine of private CHSLDs in the province. During the study of the budgetary appropriations, Minister Sonia Bélanger however affirmed that she wanted to proceed more quickly by reducing the schedule from five to two years, indicating that she wanted to have completed the process by the end of 2025.

M^meBélanger was responding to criticism that the process was taking too long. Quebec had in its sights to contract about twenty private establishments as of March 31, 2023.

PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS

The Minister for Health and responsible for Seniors, Sonia Bélanger

An objective that the Legault government has not achieved. However, other announcements are to be expected in the coming weeks, said Ms.^meBélanger during the study of the credits. Discussions “are active” and tentative agreements are being reached with other institutions, we were told.

In the Girard budget, we also learned that the agreement process has progressed “notably” in recent months in 16 private CHSLDs.

The process remains long and complex, while establishments must meet certain quality standards to initiate the agreement process.

The details of the agreement agreements linking a private establishment to the public network are not disclosed publicly.

Disparities between public and private

The pandemic has brought to light the disparities between the public and private CHSLD networks. There is no need to recall the carnage that occurred at the CHSLD Herron, a completely private establishment.

During the previous mandate, the Legault government undertook to enter into agreements with all private CHSLDs to harmonize the supply of care and ensure quality from one establishment to another.

Among the five new private CHSLDs under agreement, we find in particular the CHSLD de la Rive, in Laval, where members of the Canadian Armed Forces were deployed during the first wave. Significant outbreaks also took place at the CHSLD Manoir Harwood, at the CHSLD Manoir de l’Ouest de l’Île and at the CHSLD Soulanges, which are becoming contracted.

At the height of the latest health crisis, private CHSLDs were also hit by the labor shortage, another phenomenon exacerbated by the pandemic. In March 2022, the Association of Private Long-Term Institutions of Quebec, which brings together the province’s private CHSLDs, urged the Legault government to speed up the agreement process to curb the bleeding.

The director general of the CHSLD Manoir Harwood and the CHSLD Soulanges in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Jean-François Blanchard, then affirmed that the lack of staff “worsened considerably” after the pandemic, making the situation untenable for small resources such as the his. The CHSLD Soulanges offers about fifteen accommodation places. Mr. Blanchard must participate in the announcement on Monday.

Coroner Géhane Kamel, who investigated the deaths of elderly people who occurred in residential settings during the first wave of COVID-19, also recommended that the government proceed with the agreement of all private CHSLDs in her report, in May 2022.