CLSC in Low saved
By Trevor Greenway
The Low CLSC has been spared. It will not close, and it will not be reduced to one day a week, according to the CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO).
The CLSC in Low was, at one point this spring, on the chopping block to either close or reduce its hours to just one day a week. However CISSSO has confirmed to the Low Down that “there is no change to the CLSC’s service offer” in Low.
“Local services are important to the population, especially those on the outskirts of urban areas. We are working to maintain them,” Santé Québec spokesperson Marianne Paquette told the Low Down.
This welcome but surprising decision to keep the Low CLSC open comes as part of a wider announcement by Santé Québec that that the initial $90 million that CISSSO was mandated to cut from its budget has been slashed in half – down to $45 million. With CISSSO having already cut $60 million from its budget in January, no more funding cuts are coming to the Outaouais.
“The CISSS de l’Outaouais has a budget optimization target of $45 million. Given that we have already implemented measures to meet the objectives of the last financial period, no further measures will be implemented in terms of job cuts or major reorganizations,” Santé Québec spokesperson Qeren Boua told the Low Down in an email. “As our efforts in the last period amounted to almost 60 million, the remaining dollars will be used to absorb, among other things, the cost of inflation.”
In mid-March, CISSSO cut $60 million from its budget in an effort to help Santé Québec to slash $1.5 billion from its healthcare network. Those cuts came in the form of 800 health positions being abolished – a majority of them vacant jobs. The actual job cuts were around 100 staff, mostly in administrative positions. Santé Québec’s latest budget will see it cut $1 billion from its health network instead of $1.5 billion.
Paquette said that the province’s centralized health department is using three criteria to finalize and “optimize” budgets across regions, with tightening spending at the forefront.
Paquette said her agency will have a “complete and more accurate picture of the situation” once its audited financial statements for Santé Québec are approved by its board of directors in June.
MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Prefect Chantal Lamarche told the Low Down in April that she would “refuse” to see the Low CLSC close. After hearing about Santé Québec’s budget revisions this week, she was much happier.
“This is excellent news for our community, and I would like to highlight the work done in collaboration with the CISSSO to get to this point,” wrote Lamarche in an email. “I remain committed to defending the accessibility and quality of health services in our region.”
Despite slashing the amount of what needed to be cut in half, advocates say they worry about the current state of healthcare in the region, as a cut of $45 million still puts the Outaouais far below funding compared to other regions of Quebec.
“Reducing from $90 million to $45 million is not a victory; it is proof that the initial approach lacked nuance and would have unfairly impacted an already vulnerable region,” said SOS Outaouais spokesperson Jean Pigeon in a statement last week.
He noted that the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec.
“It is imperative that the government finally take our regional realities into account,” he said.
