Jewish General Hospital turns to private firm to deal with budget cuts

The Jewish General Hospital is seeking some outside help to deal with its shrinking budget.

The public agency that runs the hospital, theWest-Central Montreal Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre (known by its French acronym CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'le-de-Montral), has issued a call for tenders to hire a private firm to optimize its costs.

Facingmore budget cuts from the provincial government, the hospital is looking for ideas on how to improve the efficiency of its emergency and operating rooms.

In its call for tenders, the CIUSSS stipulates these measures can't come at the expense of patient care.

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Damien Contandriopoulos, apublic health researcher at the Universit de Montral,says the call for tenders looks like a cry for help. It is a sign the hospital doesn't know where else it can cut costs.

"It's really a feeling of frustrationand despair,"Contandriopoulos said.

"Basically there's just one way if you're not a clinician to lower costs that is to close beds and limit the amount of surgery you're doing."

Move criticized by unions

The Fdration interprofessionnelle de la sant du Qubec (FIQ) and the Fdration de la sant et des services sociaux (FSSS-CSN) believe turning to the private sector is a costly mistake.

"We're going to cut even more just to pay the firm" said Rgine Laurent, president of the FIQ."And from what we have seen in the past with these firms, a contract for afew months will cost thousands of dollars."

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The right way to deal with those cuts is for health-care staffto make some tough decisions about how to best use their own resources, says Contandriopoulos.

"They're facing a really tough challenge,"Contandriopoulos said."Health-care spending in Quebec has never been cut at such a pace as we are doing now."