It will have to address functional issues at the heart of current health care procedures. For instance, he cited the change in some common surgical operations. Ten years ago, cataract surgery took four days, including hospital stay. Today it takes four hours. He described the new system needed as tertiary care combined with a network of clinics and community facilities.
Much less time is spent in the hospitals.
It's a change in the thinking about care. He emphasized that the trend in health care is to create a continuity between pediatric and geriatric care. The planning process should culminate in 2004. The challenge, according to Fuks, is to anticipate what health care in a teaching hospital will be like over the next 20 years. Physically, the new centre will be located within the downtown area bounded by the mountain to the north, the old port to the south, St. Laurent Boulevard to the east, and Decarie Expressway to the west.