A pilot project in Montreal is helping young patients receive care closer to their homes. The project is active at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont in Montreal and Hôpital de la Cité-de-la-Santé in Laval, with plans to expand it to six more locations.

The pilot project relocates young patients to smaller community day hospitals, where they receive personalized care and are treated closer to their homes. It has helped reduce the pressure on bigger specialized hospitals, and by March, over 180 children were moved to local day hospitals.

The project is aimed at young patients who need follow-up care but do not have to stay in the specialized hospital overnight, like those with skin infections, ear infections, or urinary tract infections. An online system helps hospitals work together and manage these referrals easily, as the young patients can visit the day hospital for treatment and go home at night.

This project started in response to the health crisis during the fall of 2022, when Montreal’s children’s hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID, RSV, and flu cases. Doctors teamed up with community hospitals to provide better care for young patients.

The program has helped reduce the stress of travelling for families with sick children and raised awareness about community pediatric day centres. Families and healthcare workers have shared positive feedback, and the plan is to keep growing the network of these centres across Quebec to ease overcrowding in big hospitals and give families more local care options.