Waiting times in surgery: not the fault of the patients, to denounce opposition parties

Photo Simon Clark
The opposition parties, refuting the explanation of the minister of Health that the patients are the cause of waiting times of over a year who continue to receive surgical intervention.

Kathryne Lamontagne

Wednesday, 6 December 2017 12:56

UPDATE
Wednesday, 6 December 2017 13:01

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The opposition parties, refuting the explanation of the minister of Health that the patients are the cause of waiting times of over a year who continue to access a surgical intervention.

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Our parliamentary Bureau revealed on Wednesday that nearly 2200 Quebec patientaient for more than a year for an operation, despite the objective of Gaétan Barrette to completely eliminate the waiting list at the end of 2017.

The minister Barrette has justified this position in part by the refusal of some patients to have surgery to the date fixed by the establishments of the health network, in particular, because they are outside the country.

“The minister said this morning: “Well, it is the fault of the patients, it is their fault, they were not present. Then we could not foresee at the beginning of the year that there would be “snowbirds”, because it never happens, this is the only year where there has been a “snowbird”,” ironisé Wednesday, the leader of the Parti québécois, Jean-François Lisée, during the question period.

“I want to believe that the phenomenon exists, but how the minister can conclude that the majority of the patients refuse the date of their surgery so that there is no evidence? When the minister, will he stop blaming the patients to be responsible for its failure”, has questioned the spokesperson of the CAQ in terms of health, François Paradis.

According to the member of parliament for Lévis, the lack of nurses, the utilization rate of the operating theatres and the limited budgets may also have played a role on this result. “It is the minister responsible. If the minister put as much energy to reduce the lists to grant new powers, he could perhaps”, he pestered.

A phenomenon is “real”

The prime minister has brought to the defence of Gaétan Barrette, ensuring that there are “a lot of patients, much more than we think, who refuse the surgery when it offers them”. “And this, I think, it is a phenomenon that needs to be recognized, which exists, is real and that it is necessary to take into consideration”, has launched Philippe Couillard.

Mr. Barrette has pointed out that the CIUSSS of the Centre-West of the island of Montreal became this week the first “to have zero patient on its waiting list of more than six months”. “And the others are on the right track”, he added.

The minister said he was hopeful of reducing the waiting times in surgery under the bar of the six months by the end of the liberal mandate.