The Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie-Ouest unveiled a major deficit at its annual general meeting held this Wednesday evening, November 27. For the 2023-2024 financial year, the healthcare authority has achieved a deficit of $106 million, which is attributable, according to CISSSMO Finance Director Luc Labelle, to two main factors. 

The main highlight of the meeting was undoubtedly the presentation of last year's financial statements by Director of Finance Luc Labelle. CISSSMO de la Montérégie-Ouest's fiscal year ended on March 31 with revenues of $1,246,000,000. 

The AGM was held at the Centre multiservices de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie-Ouest, located at 3031 boulevard de la Gare in Vaudreuil-Dorion, starting at 6:15 pm. Some thirty people attended the public presentation, which turned out to be the last of its kind organized by the CISSSMO, which will become Santé Québec Montérégie-Ouest on Sunday December 1.  

“If we take into account our revenues for 2023-2024, i.e. $1,246,000,000, and our expenses for the same period, i.e. $1,356,000,000, we end the fiscal year with a deficit of $110M. From this figure, we must deduct $4M from the capital fund, giving us a shortfall of $106M for the last year. This substantial sum is attributable to two factors. The first is the increase in home support services, and the second, which accounts for the lion's share of the shortfall, is attributable to the use of independent labour. The year 2023-2024 has been pretty crazy in that respect. I want to reassure everyone that efforts have been made over the last few months to ensure that we will no longer be dealing with external labour as of March 31, 2025,” he explained at the outset.  

Revenues from a variety of sources 

Mr. Labelle presented last year's financial statements in greater detail during the evening. He began with revenues of $1,246,000,000. “These revenues come from a variety of sources, including subsidies from the Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux, the federal government, the CHSLDs, investment income and commercial income from the cafeterias and parking lots at our various facilities. A sum of $14 million came from the Dependency Fund, and homecare support enabled us to raise $15 million during the fiscal year, for a total of $54.5 million in other revenues”, he detailed. 

On the expenditure side, the main budget items to emerge from the 2023-2024 financial statements are salaries ($943,000,000), drug purchases ($42.5M), medical supplies ($32M), rent ($19M) and other expenses such as IT and professional services ($164M). 

Two significant projects and many highlights 

For his part, Claude Jolin, Chairman of the CISSSMO Board of Directors since 2015, outlined the two significant projects that have occupied the health authority's general management in 2023-2024: the opening of the Maison des ainés et alternative de Châteauguay and the construction of the Hôpital de Vaudreuil-Soulanges. 

For his part, CISSSMO Assistant Director Dominique Pilon outlined the highlights of the past year. 

 “The CISSSMO is made up of 11,600 employees, including nearly 500 managers and more than 500 physicians, whose mission is to improve, maintain and restore the health and well-being of the region's population of nearly 500,000. The past year was marked by a number of projects, including: the opening of a midwifery service in 2023, which welcomed the project's first baby last March. The opening of local vaccination points of service, the improvement of evening and weekend medical services, the appointment of five professional services directors and the implementation of 24h-72h brief mental health units at Hôpital du Suroît are just some of our achievements,” he enumerated. 

And what about the labour shortage? According to Mr. Pilon, it doesn't really affect the CISSSMO. Over the past year, more than 1,000 external employees have worked for the regional organization in a variety of positions. In fact, their presence made itself felt in the financial statements. 

“Recruitment efforts in recent months have reduced the number of external employees to 175. As of March 31, we will no longer be calling on external labour. Recruitment efforts have resulted in 60,000 resumes and 560 employees, and counting.”

Among CISSSMO's major projects for 2023-2024 is the construction and opening of the Maison des aînés et alternative de Châteauguay. The facility is home to 96 seniors and 24 young adults with autism spectrum disorders or intellectual disabilities. The Valleyfield facility is scheduled to open in spring 2025. 

The CISSSMO's clinical plan has also kept many of the facility's employees busy in recent months. The document contains 64 courses of action grouped into six axes and five pillars, and sets out the organization's vision for the next ten years.  

“Alongside the arrival of Santé Québec, we have also set up ecosystem committees made up of managers and local partners from the territory's MRCs, to reflect on how we can improve healthcare in each region.“

Finally, faced with the arrival of Santé Québec, Mr. Pilon was reassuring in closing.  “After 27 years in the health and social services network, I can tell you that the changes we are seeing are positive. My priority as deputy CEO is to ensure that management teams feel supported in this transition to Santé Québec, and that it goes as smoothly as possible. It will be a real team effort. We have confidence in Ms. Biron's governance and our collaboration will be key to this success.”