Two cancelled programs to Be reviewed
Pressed by patients at his first public board meeting on Friday, Dr. Pierre Gfeller — the new head of the McGill University Health Centre — suggested he might revive one of three popular patient programs that have been cancelled and review another.
Under financial pressure to balance its budget, the MUHC last year eliminated the cancer survivorship program, the patient education office, and a service called My Tool Box to help those suffering from chronic pain.
Amy Ma, co-president of the MUHC Central Users Committee, urged Gfeller to restore all three programs, arguing they are essential to the well-being of patients and actually save the hospital network money in the long run.
“The process by which these programs were abolished was a bit flawed, as patients were not consulted regarding these matters,” Ma said at the meeting, held at the Montreal General Hospital.
Gfeller responded that he would not restore My Tool Box, saying that the health ministry advised him the program did not fall within the MUHC’s specialized-care mandate.
The MUHC launched My Tool Box more than a decade ago. During its mandate, My Tool Box assisted more than 2,600 patients suffering from chronic pain, and won international praise for its innovations. The program’s annual budget was $200,000.
“We will be reviewing the decision-making process for two of these programs, the patient education office and the cancer survivorship program,” Gfeller added.
“For one of these programs, I think you will have good news soon. (For) the other one, we’ll have to take a look.”
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Gfeller was more circumspect in his comments.
Asked specifically whether he would re-establish one of the programs, he replied: “Not necessarily. I haven’t done that yet. We’ll be doing that during the summer and working with the users’ committee.”
A cancer survivor who attended the meeting reacted with guarded optimism to Gfeller’s remarks.
“The patients were informed by the head of the cancer-care mission that the cancer survivorship program would be temporarily closed only for the period of the summer of 2017, due to a shortage of nurses on the wards,” said the survivor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“The heads of the cancer-care mission also affirmed that this temporary closure was not due to funding issues. Yet over a year has passed and the survivorship program has yet to be reopened. Several hundred patients are in limbo.”
The survivorship program was modelled, in part, on the pioneering work done at some hyperspecialized cancer centres in the United States. Under the program, cancer patients who finished their treatment were hooked up with family doctors to help them deal with the short-term and longerterm side effects of their chemo drugs and radiotherapy.
Gfeller announced at the meeting that the MUHC ended the 2017-2018 fiscal year with a deficit of $8.4 million, down from $22 million the previous year.