Pilot project aims to treat Montreal mental health patients at home, not the ER
Quebec is hoping to expand on a new model of care for patients in the emergency room experiencing a mental health crisis.
The model has been in place at Notre-Dame Hospital in Montreal for several months, and on Monday, Health and Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant announced a plan to expand the measures to other hospitals.
A "brief intervention team" will now care for patients in crisis who need to be stabilized.
The measure, said Carmant, will free up beds for more severe psychiatric cases.
"They can have 48 to 72 hours in a unit of intensive short intervention, so you can avoid hospitalization," he said.
The goal is to make hospitalization a last resort.
All patients leaving the hospital receive follow-up care in the community to ensure no one falls through the cracks.
Those who need it can have access to a measure called "psychiatric home hospitalization," where the patient will be visited at their home by a nurse, a psychiatrist, or social worker up to three times a day for six to eight weeks.
"It can prevent long hospitalization and can help the team as well observe what's happening at the house of the patients. And it leads to a better interaction between family and the treating team," explained Carmant.
Quebec Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant (Christinne Muschi / The Canadian Press)
The pilot project started at in January, and Notre-Dame Hospital said about 90 per cent of those receiving home care did not return to the ER.
The care people receive is also more targeted, explained Dr. Cedric Andres, chief of psychiatry at the Notre-Dame Hospital.
"We are treating the right patient at the right moment, at the right place. This is the difference. So the quality of the care is vastly increased," he said.
Advocates in Quebec have often criticized a lack of mental health resources and long wait times.
Notre-Dame recruited about 10 employees for its brief intervention team and another 40 for its home hospitalization team.
Notre-Dame Hospital in Montreal (CTV News)
Carmant said he's optimistic other hospitals will be able to do the same.
"Well, those are innovative initiatives which lead to recruitment. People are excited about these new programs. And the team here did an unbelievable team and unbelievable work and being able to recruit, without decreasing services elsewhere," he said.
Carmant said he hopes to eventually expand programs like these to hospitals throughout the province.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Serial sexual offender linked to unsolved 1970s homicides of four Calgary girls, women
An investigation into unsolved historical homicides from the 1970s has linked the deaths of two girls and two young women in and around Calgary to a now-deceased serial offender.
Woman with liver failure rejected for a transplant after medical review highlights alcohol use
For nearly three months, Amanda Huska has been in an Ontario hospital, part of it on life support, because of severe liver failure. Her history of alcohol use is getting in the way of her only potential treatment: a liver transplant.
$500K-worth of elvers seized at Toronto airport
Fishery and border service officers seized more than 100 kilograms of unauthorized elvers at the Toronto Pearson International Airport on Wednesday.
Toronto eliminated from PWHL playoffs
Toronto has been eliminated from the PWHL playoffs.
Information commissioner faces $700K funding shortfall, says system is 'overwhelmed'
Canada's information commissioner says her office is facing a $700,000 funding shortfall that could impact its ability to investigate complaints about government transparency and accountability.
B.C. man 'attacked suddenly' by adult grizzly near Alberta boundary: RCMP
A B.C. man is recovering from multiple injuries after he was "attacked suddenly" by an adult grizzly bear near Elkford Thursday afternoon.
Backlash over NFL player Harrison Butker's commencement speech has reached a new level
The NFL is distancing itself from controversial comments by Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker during a recent commencement address.
Dabney Coleman, actor who specialized in curmudgeons, dies at 92
Dabney Coleman, the mustachioed character actor who specialized in smarmy villains like the chauvinist boss in '9 to 5' and the nasty TV director in 'Tootsie,' has died. He was 92.
Craig Berube named as next head coach of Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have named Craig Berube as their new head coach.