Health care changes: Decision-making driven by the population’s needs and service quality
In recent weeks, a number of stakeholders have publicly expressed their concerns about the future of health care in some Vitalité Health Network facilities and about possible service reductions. The Network is sensitive to the concerns being raised by the public and wishes to emphasize that the primary objective of the coming health care changes is to improve the quality of services while concurrently ensuring their long-term clinical and financial sustainability.
Provincial context
The Network is actively involved in the province’s current strategic review of government programs and we are in discussions with our health system partners to examine how services are being delivered and to present our vision for the future.
The Network is also devising a Clinical Services Plan that will identify the most appropriate clinical services to be implemented in order to meet the population’s health needs and to ensure equitable access to these services based on our available financial, human, and physical resources. The plan will be presented to the Board of Directors later this fall before being submitted to the Department of Health.
Our approach to service planning
The Network has exhaustively studied and analyzed the challenges facing the health care system. Our planning efforts are designed to determine the best possible way of structuring high-quality, patient-centred, and efficient health care services. Scenarios have been developed and possible solutions proposed factoring in:
- The population’s health care needs;
- The need to ensure that all patients have equitable and timely access;
- The primarily rural nature of the population we serve;
- Our human, financial, and physical resources;
- The need to employ our health professionals to their full potential.
According to Gilles Lanteigne, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Network, we are listening to the various stakeholders involved. “A number of meetings have taken place over the past few months bringing together the Network’s management, municipal representatives, and citizen groups. We are open to meeting with our community partners to hear what they have to say, share how we see the future unfolding, and answer their questions. We intend to continue in the same vein,” he stated. “I wish to reassure the public that any decisions affecting service delivery will be explained transparently and that changes will be implemented in a sensitive and structured way that takes into account the concerns expressed as much as possible,” Mr. Lanteigne continued.
On the path of transformation and modernization
The health care system is undergoing a period of transformation and modernization. Changes are coming. We must design a new way of delivering care while maintaining equitable access. With goodwill, openness, and collaboration on the part of all stakeholders, we will be able to continue on the path of change while at the same time building Vitalité Health Network.
