Ensuring access to health care in English is vital

Language plays a critical role in the delivery of services, write Sheilagh Murphy and Sara Saber-freedman.

As we emerge from the first phase of the COVID-19 emergency, the government of Quebec has a unique opportunity to use recent experience to clarify the critical role that language plays in the delivery of health and social services.

More than three decades ago, the National Assembly affirmed English-speaking Quebecers’ legal right to health and social services in English. Extended and entrenched by subsequent reforms to the health and social services act, these guarantees establish rules that are grounded in two common-sense principles: clinical success relies on the quality of communication, and the interests of health and safety must supersede all other considerations.

Over the last few months, these principles have been put to the test.

Now is the time to take stock, and evaluate government strategies to inform our future course of action.

As the Provincial Committee for the Provision of Health Services and Social Services in the English Language, we are mandated to provide advice to the Quebec government and the minister of Health, and to communicate with English-speaking Quebecers about these issues. We are therefore uniquely placed to participate in this urgently needed exercise.

Our point of departure is simple: All Quebecers have the right to comparable health outcomes, regardless of whether their language of use with health-care providers is French or English. We take this opportunity to share with the English-speaking community the considerations that we have raised over the last months with the outgoing minister, and to invite input as we move forward.

First, when public health is at risk, language politics must not be a factor. The government’s decision to provide COVID-19 information in English online and to ensure home distribution of key printed material was an important step, and one that deserves to be integrated more broadly whenever public health and safety is concerned. However, mass distribution of the English version of the Self-care Guide to homes only commenced eight weeks after the French version was sent, even as the virus continued to propagate. This delay left English-speakers, especially the elderly, without access to the essential information in the Guide. To maximize the impact of public-health information for all Quebecers, essential information must be furnished in English at the same time that it is made available in French.

Second, it is urgent that the clients’ preferred language of use be integrated as one of the data points in client information systems. For investigations and evaluations to be grounded in fact, public authorities must have access to this detailed information. In the short term, this will allow service providers to make appropriate adjustments to the offer of services as needed. In the medium and long term, it will significantly strengthen the planning, implementation and evaluation of health and social service activities.

Finally, we need to make the best use of the network of advisory committees that link the English-speaking communities of Quebec with their local health institutions. These committees are an invaluable tool for English-speaking Quebecers to communicate their needs and concerns. They are also a critical complement to the provincial advisory committee, which interacts with the government and the minister of Health and Social Services. The minister and the leadership of our health and social services institutions can only benefit from this input.

The provincial committee thanks outgoing minister Danielle Mccann and welcomes Christian Dubé as he takes on this crucial portfolio. We look forward to working with the Quebec government as it continues to advance the goal of ensuring that all Quebec citizens have access to quality health and social services and enjoy comparable health outcomes, regardless of the language in which they prefer to receive that care.

Sheilagh Murphy is president and Sara Saber-freedman vice-president of the Provincial Committee for the Provision of Health Services and Social Services in the English Language. The provincial committee can be reached at quebecpac@gmail.com

All Quebecers have the right to comparable health outcomes.