Inspection report shows 20% of Quebec hospitals in poor condition

A recent report issued by the Quebec government reveals that many of the province's hospitals and long-term care institutions are falling apart.

CBC's French-language service, Radio-Canada, obtained the report, which discloses that more than 20 per cent of hospital buildings are in poor or very poor condition, including some of those at Montreal's Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Sainte-Justine and Douglas hospitals.

• C. difficile control: Handwashing practices lax at Quebec hospitals
• More health data should be made public, Gaétan Barrette says
• 'Are we being punished because we are too good?': Quebec eliminates health watchdog 

The report shows the worst-affected buildings are at a high level of degradation and need better ongoing maintenance. Some require immediate, urgent repairs. Others need to be replaced.

Building inspections carried out by Quebec show that the percentage of buildings in a poor state is even higher for long-term care facilities, with 30 per cent in decay or degradation.

The report is based on an inspection of just one-third of Quebec's health-care institutions – the proportion that inspectors have visited to date.

Fit for wrecking ball?

Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette said it's clear that some buildings will likely be demolished.

• Health reform to standardize medical treatment costs
• Hospital in Vaudreuil-Dorion given go-ahead by Quebec government

"Is it better to invest to maintain a facility or wait a couple of years and knock it down and build a new one?" Barrette asked.

Barrette said inspectors will go over the entire network by 2018.

He said the government has already planned to pump $10 billion over the next decade into health-care infrastructure, although some of that is slated to pay down debt from completed projects.

Surgeries cancelled

Montreal's Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital is among the 20 hospitals given a failing grade of E, the worst grade possible.

"We're absolutely not surprised by the grade," Martin Légaré, a pulmonologist at the hospital, told Radio-Canada.

In early April, damage to the hospital's ventilation system forced the cancellation of several operations.

"There were 17 people who were not operated on," Dr.Rafik Ghali told Radio-Canada. "It's the outcome of having an old ventilation system in the operating room."