An alphabet soup of distinct clinics to cure what ails you

Quebec’s super clinics are the latest in an evolving series of medical clinics established over the past 50 years to take care of the province’s patients outside of hospitals.

It was in 1968 that a community clinic in Pointe-Ste-Charles became the forerunner of the CLSC, which stands for Centre local de services communautaires. The network of government-run CLSCS was founded in 1972, and today there are more than 100 across the province.

CLSCs are staffed by salaried doctors, social workers, nurses and other professionals. Many Quebecers go to CLSCs for blood tests and flu shots, among other medical services. CLSCs accept walk-in patients, but not all are open on weekends.

Most family physicians, however, have preferred to set up their practices in what are known in French as cabinets privés ,or a private doctor’s office. Not all such private practices accept

walk-ins, and their operating hours vary.

In 2002, the government created a new designation of clinic — Groupe de médecine de famille (GMF) — that is open seven days a week. Unlike CLSCs, family medicine groups are not government-run, but they receive subsidies.

GMFs provide blood tests on site as well as X-rays and some types of medical imaging. In order to secure government subsidies, they must register at least 20,000 patients and treat walk-ins. In fact, there are nine GMF levels.

In 2007, the government expanded on the GMF concept by creating the designation

Clinique-réseau (CR), which stayed open longer during weekday evenings. But Health Minister Gaétan Barrette has decided to discontinue some of the funding of the CRs as of March 31, hoping that most will become a Groupe de médecine de famille-réseau

(GMF-R) — otherwise known as the super clinic.

Barrette pushed the Cliniqueréseau concept even further with the super clinic, which must stay open 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Super clinics can receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidies a year, depending on the number of patients they register and the number of consultations with walk-ins.

It’s in the super clinic that you will most likely find the super nurse, or nurse practitioner. Super nurses can prescribe certain medications as well as diagnose and treat some disorders under the supervision of a doctor.

To date, there are 14 super clinics in Montreal, and Barrette is planning to inaugurate more in the coming months.