Mission

Health and Social Services Institutions provide general and specialized services to the population that correspond to the five major missions defined in the Act Respecting Health Services and Social Services(CQLR c S-4.2) and vary according to whether they are a:

• Local community service centre (CLSC);
• Hospital centre (CH);
• Residential and long-term care centre (CHSLD);
• Child and Youth Protection Centre (CPEJ);
• Rehabilitation centre (CR).

In Québec, institutions may carry out more than one mission. Thus, integrated health and social services centres and integrated university health and social services centres may operate one or more of the following: a CLSC, CHSLD, CH, CPEJ or CR. Such mission groupings are aimed at improving the integration of services.

Local Community Service Centre

The mission of the local community services centre (CLSC) is to provide, to the population of its territory, frontline common health and social services, as well as preventive, curative, rehabilitative and/or reintegration services and carry out public health activities. Integrated centres that assume this mission must ensure that persons needing such services for themselves or their loved ones are contacted, that their needs are evaluated and that the required services are provided at their sites or in the living environments of these individuals, meaning at school, at work or at home. If needed, it will ensure that they are directed to the centres, organisations or persons most likely to help them.

Hospital Centre

The mission of the hospital centre (CH) is to provide diagnostic services, as well as general and specialized medical care. There are two categories of hospital centres:

• General and specialized hospital centres
• Psychiatric care hospital centres

Residential and Long-term Care Centre

The mission of the residential and long-term care centre (CHSLD) is to provide temporary or permanent lodging, assistance, support and monitoring, as well as psychosocial, nursing, pharmaceutical, medical and rehabilitation services to adults who, because of their loss of functional and/or psychosocial autonomy, are no longer able to remain in their natural living environments.

Child and Youth Protection Centre

The mission of the child and youth protection centre (CPEJ) is to provide psychosocial services (including emergency social services) to young people who need them in situations defined by the Youth Protection Act (CQLR c P-34.1) and the Youth Criminal Justice Act (SC 2002, c 1). This mission also covers child placement, family mediation, Superior Court child custody expertise, adoption and research of the biological family history.

Rehabilitation Centre

The mission of the rehabilitation centre (CR) is to provide adaptation and/or rehabilitation and social integration services to individuals that require them due to physical or intellectual disabilities, behavioural, psychosocial or family problems, dependency on alcohol, drug, or gambling issues, as well as any other form of dependency. Rehabilitation centres are also required to provide coaching and support for the immediate family of the people it serves.

Rehabilitation centres belong to one or more of the following categories, depending on their clientele:

• Rehabilitation centres for individuals with an intellectual disability or pervasive developmental disorder
• Rehabilitation centres for individuals with a physical disability (hearing, sight, motor or speech)
• Rehabilitation centres for individuals with a dependency
• Rehabilitation centres for youth with adaptation difficulties
• Rehabilitation centre for mothers with adaptation difficulties

Breakdown by types of institutions

Since the Act to Modify the Organization and Governance of the Health and Social Services Network, in Particular by Abolishing the Regional Agencies  came into force on April 1, 2015, the Québec health and social services network includes the following:

• Twenty-two integrated health and social services centres, nine of which named university health and social services integrated centres. Only integrated centres located in a health region where a university offers a complete undergraduate medical program or operates a university institute in the social field are entitled to use the wording “university health and social services integrated centre” in their title.
• Seven institutions that were not amalgamated with an integrated centre of which four are university hospital centres (CHU) and three are university institutes (IU).
• Five institutions not covered by the Act offering services to an Aboriginal and northern population.

Each institution may offer services in several sites that are physical locations where health and social services are provided.

It should be noted that 17 institutions that were not amalgamated under the Act have been grouped into integrated centres, and are managed by the centre’s board of directors.

In addition to the services provided by public institutions, the population benefits from services such as lodging and long-term care that are provided by private institutions.

Moreover, four integrated university health networks (RUIS) promote collaboration and complementarity, and fulfill the combined mission of care, teaching and research that is incumbent upon the health institutions and the universities with which they are affiliated. These are the Université Laval, McGill University, Université de Montréal and Université de Sherbrooke integrated university health networks.