Despite strong start to Quebec’s digital health record launch, some issues persist

There were 2,000 requests for help and a major outage during the launch of digital health records in Quebec over the weekend.

Santé Québec is preparing for the first large-scale test of the Digital Health Record (DSN) following a launch over the weekend in the two CIUSSSs—Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec and Nord-de-l’île-de-Montréal—which are serving as pilot projects for the implementation of this major transformation of practices within the health-care system.

Those responsible for the rollout received 2,168 “tickets” over the weekend—that is, reports of all kinds of issues—but the overwhelming majority of these were requests for support and information related to the new system.

The most significant problem encountered—and one that remains to be resolved—is latency, meaning when the system becomes overloaded and stops functioning for certain operations. This issue led officials to increase bandwidth capacity from 2 gigabits to 10 gigabits, but the problem was still occurring intermittently as of Monday morning.

Major Outage in Mauricie

However, the entire system was paralyzed for about two hours on Monday morning at the CIUSSS Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec due to “an issue affecting network equipment,” Santé Québec explained in a statement to The Canadian Press. “Since 9:25 a.m., no new incidents have been reported regarding this issue, and connections have now been restored,” the statement noted.

“A thorough analysis is currently underway to identify the exact cause and implement appropriate corrective measures.”

During Monday’s update, Santé Québec’s vice-president of information technology, Erika Bially, described the latency issue as a priority and said she expected a busy day.

“We have several services that weren’t performed over the weekend, so we’re really seeing a massive influx of employees today and we expect an increase in tickets. (…) We’re going to have more activity, we’re going to have more users, and we’re going to have more clinicians and professionals working across multiple facilities.”

Bially, however, made a point of noting that the Epic system provider had warned Santé Québec to expect around 6,000 tickets per day at the start of implementation and that the actual figure of 2,000 was well below what had been feared. It remains to be seen what Monday will bring in terms of service requests.

However, the CEOs of both CIUSSS report that their operations proceeded normally over the weekend, with Nathalie Petitclerc of Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec even noting a 29 per cent increase in the number of ambulances arriving at the emergency department compared to usual, without this causing any issues.

Efficiency gains

Among the reported benefits was rapid and comprehensive access to the medical record of a person struggling with mental-health issues who was in crisis.

“What this means is that responders were better positioned to manage the risk, knowing the person’s history, and were thus able to better tailor their interventions to that patient’s needs,” Petitclerc explained.

Her counterpart from Montreal North, Adélaïde De Melo, reported some difficulties regarding access to the EHR, specifically how to log in.

“That remains one of the issues, though it’s being resolved fairly quickly.”

She also said she expects a very busy Monday. “Today, there are other new elements, such as the entire outpatient component and the elective procedures scheduled for this week.”

Sonia Bélanger Satisfied

While in Montreal for a public health announcement, Health Minister Sonia Bélanger said she was very satisfied after spending the weekend on the ground to see how the rollout was going. She acknowledged, however, that there were still issues to resolve, but that this was not surprising.

“Listen, this is a massive transformation that is currently being implemented with an information system that has been significantly expanded. We’re not just talking about a system in hospitals, but also in long-term care facilities and community health centers. I’ve said this a few times: it’s normal that we’ll encounter glitches. Not all of them are computer bugs. Sometimes they’re user errors. Sometimes, yes, they’re technical.”

“Regarding latency,” she continued, “the issues we’ve had with bandwidth also occurred this weekend. They were able to restore service quickly. This morning, it happened for about two hours; I’m told it’s been fixed.”

Christine Fréchette also satisfied

Premier Christine Fréchette, visiting Nicolet for an event honouring police officers who died in the line of duty, also believes the launch was successful, while acknowledging that perfection wasn’t expected.

“There were a few issues; we were aware there would be some this morning as well, and there were a few—they were addressed. We have thousands of people practically in the field, many of whom are heavy users, what we call ‘super-users.’ We also have the command center, which is staffed by several hundred people, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," she said.

She said she had heard “staff members say that it was already saving them time as early as the first weekend. That’s certainly a positive.”

Like those in charge of the rollout, she said she expected a higher volume of use of the new system this Monday, but expressed confidence in the teams deployed, adding that she is receiving numerous updates on the situation.

Concerns at the FIQ

While the vast majority of tickets relate to requests for information, support, and assistance with usage, it goes without saying that on-site resources—particularly so-called “super-users,” among others—are under heavy strain.

In a press release issued Monday morning, the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) expressed concern about a “significant overload for support teams and super-users,” “connection issues with the Epic system,” “glitches with certain devices,” and “a return to paper-based systems in several healthcare settings.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 11, 2026.

Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press