(Quebec) The Minister for Health and Seniors is stepping on the accelerator to convert private CHSLDs into institutions under agreement, that is to say subsidized by the State. Sonia Bélanger wants to have completed the process within two years rather than five.
The minister made this revelation during the study of the budgetary appropriations of her department on Wednesday. Quebec has its sights set on contracting all of the province’s 47 private CHSLDs with the aim of harmonizing the service offer across the province. In particular, the pandemic has brought to light the disparities between the public and private CHSLD network.
“We are going to speed up the agreement process,” assured Ms. Bélanger, who was being hounded on the subject by the opposition parties. In the last Girard budget, it is indicated that Quebec is giving itself five years to conclude the agreement process with private establishments. A deadline that had startled the Association of Private Long-Term Institutions of Quebec.
On Wednesday, Ms. Bélanger said instead that she is giving herself until 2025 to complete the agreement, that is to say within two years. A first group of five CHSLDs which will therefore become subsidized must be announced within the next few days, let the minister know. “The letters are signed,” she said Wednesday.
She also said that other similar announcements are to be expected by the summer. It should be remembered that Quebec initially had the objective of contracting about twenty private establishments by March 31. The agreement process has made “significant” progress in recent months in 16 private CHSLDs, we also learned in the budget.
