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FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What does official designation as a university teaching hospital mean for Hôpital Montfort?
By conferring this official designation, the Government of Ontario would officially recognize the teaching role of l'Hôpital Montfort as a designated institution under the list of Group A hospitals (Regulation 964, R.R.O 1990 of the Ontario Public Hospitals Act). Hôpital Montfort would then enjoy the same privileges as other hospitals officially recognized by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
Why is this designation vital?
This designation in necessary to ensure:
- Fair and equitable remuneration for the physicians of Hôpital Montfort who offer clinical training to medical students and residents. Without this compensation, physicians may no longer commit to their teaching role.
- Appropriate funding to support the infrastructure necessary for the hospital to properly fulfill its role as a teaching and research institution.
Without this designation, medical students and residents conducting their studies in French may lose access to a Francophone hospital for their clinical training. This would eventually lead to a shortage of physicians able to provide French-language care to communities throughout the province.
What is Hôpital Montfort's teaching role?
Hôpital Montfort has played a university-level teaching role since 1992. Over the years, the hospital has continually increased its number of Medicine Teaching Days (MTD) in order to meet growing demand. In less than 10 years, the number has almost tripled, going from 6,457 to more than 16,000. The number is expected to rise to 34,000 MTDs by 2016 in order to ensure that future needs are being met. This level cannot be achieved without the support that an official designation would bring to the hospital.
What are the consequences of not officially recognizing Hôpital Montfort as a university teaching hospital?
The non-recognition of this status threatens the Francophone program offered by the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine, since Hôpital Montfort is its main clinical partner. With the termination of the program, Francophone students would no longer be able to study medicine in French. This would result in a serious shortage of physicians who are able to offer health-care in both official languages to communities in the Ottawa region and across the province.
Why is fairness an issue?
An official designation would present a clear affirmation to the Franco-Ontarian community – and to medical students and residents in particular – that the French-language program offered by the University of Ottawa is of comparable quality to English-language programs offered in Ottawa and elsewhere in Ontario. Furthermore, an official designation would provide physicians from Hôpital Montfort with compensation comparable to that received by their Anglophone colleagues.
The hospital must recruit new physicians who specialize in teaching and research in order to meet growing demand. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has a responsibility to provide them with conditions similar to those being offered to Anglophone physicians within the scope of an Alternative Remuneration Plan (ARP).
How is Hôpital Montfort managing to carry out its present teaching role without an official designation as a university teaching hospital?
French-language medical training has been a success thanks to the goodwill and dedication of Montfort physicians who have patiently waited for several years to receive fair remuneration for the long hours they commit to their teaching duties. They have, however, clearly stated that they could not meet growing demands on their time without official recognition of Hôpital Montfort as a university teaching hospital.
Currently, the infrastructure required to fulfill our teaching mandate has come from operational budgets that should be going towards direct patient care.
What will happen to health services for Franco-Ontarian communities if Hôpital Montfort can no longer fulfill its teaching mandate?
French-language services offered to Franco-Ontarians will be at risk. Without an official designation of university hospital status, Hôpital Montfort will no longer be able to train the francophone physicians required to meet the needs of Ontario's francophone community.