Quebec announces 1st private CHSLDs to get government funding as province moves to fund all

The Quebec government announced Monday the first group of private long-term care homes that will become publicly funded with the aim of improving and harmonizing quality of care for seniors. 

Five private CHSLDs (Centre d'hébergement de soins de longue durée) in the greater Montreal area and in the Eastern Townships have completed the process to be subsidized by the government. 

Sonia Bélanger, the minister responsible for health and seniors, said the move would make it possible to raise the standard of care in private long-term care homes to match that found in public CHSLDs at a news conference. 

"We're doing this for the residents, to ensure a similar quality of care and services between establishments [and] to avoid communication problems [and] funding problems, which ultimately harm the care and services for residents," she said.

The project is part of the government's commitment to nationalize all private CHSLDs in Quebec by 2025.

The government had said it would publicly fund about 20 private homes as of March 31, 2023 — which didn't happen — but on Monday it said other private CHSLDs will be converted in the coming weeks.

Bélanger made the announcement at CHSLD Soulanges in the Montérégie region, which is one of the first five targeted establishments. She was accompanied by Soulanges MNA Marilyne Picard and CHSLD Soulanges director and owner Jean-François Blanchard.

"This agreement will enable us to have better recruitment [and] better retention of employees who will now benefit from the same working conditions as in the public sector," said Blanchard. "The agreement will also provide long-term organizational stability."

The five homes concerned are: 

• CHSLD Soulanges (Montérégie).
• CHSLD Manoir Harwood (Montérégie-Ouest).
• CHSLD de la Rive (Laval).
• CHSLD Manoir de l'Ouest de l'île (West Island).
• CHSLD Wales (Eastern Townships).

The initiative comes in the wake of a Quebec coroner's recommendation last year following months of inquiry into deaths in seniors' residences. The pandemic killed more than 5,000 in the spring of 2020.

Coroner Géhane Kamel said private CHSLDs should receive some government subsidies in order to ensure they can provide residents with proper care. 

A pilot project of this nature was carried out in collaboration with three private CHSLDs in 2022 and was considered a success by the government. 

This announcement brings the number of private long-term care facilities that have been restructured to eight. 

Paul Arbec, the president of L'Association des établissements de longue durée privés du Québec, the association of the province's long-term care homes, welcomed the announcement.

"The agreement will allow all seniors in Quebec, regardless of where they live, to benefit from the same resources as those provided for the public sector," said Arbec.

However, according to Pierre Blain, the director of patients' rights group Les Usagers de la santé du Québec, the changes will not meaningfully improve services because the standard of care in public CHSLDs isn't good enough.

Blain said residents greatly outnumber personnel in the province's long-term care homes — in both the public and private sectors — and Quebec should respond by hiring more nurses and orderlies.