CSSS Profile

CSSSs provide a range of general and specialized services aimed at the territory’s population as a whole: prevention, evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, support, and residential care services. When CSSSs include a hospital, that hospital provides general and specialized hospital services.

In addition to providing front-line services to people on its territory, a CSSS provides them with access to a wide range of health and social services by entering into agreements or engaging in other forms of collaboration with other service providers. It also guarantees user case management and helps users navigate the health system. The important role of case managers should therefore be highlighted, particularly for vulnerable persons.

In its guidelines to implement the local service networks, the Ministry defined the basic basket of services that a CSSS should provide, as follows:

Front-line services

Among the front-line services provided by the local institution, emphasis is placed on prevention, evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, support, and public institutional residential care services.

With regard to public health: public health services and interventions for the population and for vulnerable clienteles; actions aimed at health promotion, prevention and health protection in line with regional and local public health plans.

• Institutional and non-institutional residential and long-term care services accessible within the local territory
  • Through the CSSS
  • Services in public CHSLDs
  • On the territory
  • Private CHSLDs under agreement
  • Intermediate Resources (IR)
  • Family-type Resources (FTR)
  • Alternative housing resources.
• General and specialized hospital care usually provided by the CSSS
  • Basic general and specialized services
  • Emergency
  • Hospitalization and hospital ambulatory services
  • Access to local medical specialties
  • Surgical specialties (anaesthesiology, general surgery, orthopedics and obstetrics/gynecology)
  • Medical specialties (internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry and anatomical pathology)
  • Basic technical and diagnostic support equipment (imaging, radiology, laboratory)

It should be noted: when there is no hospital grouped within a CSSS, a formal service agreement must be entered into with a hospital centre in order to ensure that the local population has access to general and specialized hospital services.