Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists issues a formal notice to Health Quebec

The Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists (FMSQ) denounced “illegal reprisals bordering on bad faith” by Quebec Health regarding the new pressure tactic used by the union in its negotiations with Quebec.

The Director of Legal Affairs and Negotiation for the FMSQ, Marie-Josée Crête, sent a letter on Tuesday to the President and CEO of Santé Québec, Geneviève Biron, regarding the Service Request Distribution Centres (CRDS).

“We deplore the fact that Santé Québec and its institutions have been disseminating a great deal of erroneous information for several days now, which is likely to create an undue climate of fear not only among specialist physicians, but especially among patients,” reads the letter obtained by The Canadian Press.

“We consider this to be an illegal reprisal bordering on bad faith,” it added.

As its negotiations with Quebec drag on, the FMSQ began a new stage of its pressure tactics on Monday and invited its members to stop offering appointments through the CRDS platform.

This appointment center distributes consultation requests from general practitioners and nurse practitioners to specialist physicians.

Consultations will now be offered via “alternative mechanisms”, while professionals who refer their patients to specialists will have to do so directly by email, for example.

“Some doctors have therefore chosen to modify the referral method so that it corresponds more closely to what they consider to be the most effective in view of their clinical reality, their practice environment and the care to be given to patients,” the letter states.

“In this regard and contrary to the claims of your spokesperson, if appointments have been cancelled so far, this is in no way the result of any action or directive from the FMSQ to its members,” it reads.

However, according to the FMSQ, some Quebec health establishments have stated “that the only official referral pathway is the CRDS, even going so far as to impose only on specialist physicians the care of patients coming from the CRDS”.

Recalling that the participation of specialist physicians in the CRDS is voluntary, the FMSQ argued that this system is “flawed and does not meet the expected standards”.

Thus, the union argues that Santé Québec cannot impose on its members “any referral mechanism and deprive them of receiving patients through another method.”

According to him, this constitutes “a frontal attack on their professional freedom and, by extension, on their ability to provide care.”

“For these reasons, we strongly denounce the threats of reprisals and disciplinary sanctions publicly mentioned by Santé Québec,” the letter reads.

Unless there is a change of heart from Santé Québec, the FMSQ indicated that it would take “all necessary legal action” to enforce the rights of its members.

For its part, Quebec Health responded by emphasizing that “the priority remains access to services for patients.”

“Our interventions aim to expose, in a responsible and factual manner, our concerns regarding the impact of the FMSQ’s pressure tactics on users,” the organization stated.

“We will never hesitate to speak out to inform the public when we believe that situations may generate concern or insecurity for patients,” she added.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews