Emergencies in Quebec: here are the regions where you have to wait the longest

On average, an emergency patient had to wait 5 hours and 11 minutes last year before receiving a medical service in Quebec, according to a study by the Montreal Economic Institute (IEDM).

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Data released Thursday shows that in 2018, the median length of stay was 4 hours 31 minutes. This is an increase of 40 minutes in four years (+15%). For stretcher patients, the increase is 2 hours 8 minutes (+23.2%).

In 2018, 16.6% of these patients spent more than 24 hours in the emergency room. In 2022, it was almost one in four patients, an increase of almost 50%.

The proportion of patients who spent more than 48 hours in the emergency room increased by more than 200%, “an obvious failure”, can we read in the study.

“If you need emergency medical services in Quebec, you better take your troubles patiently,” said Emmanuelle B. Faubert, economist at the MEI and author of the study.

“The fact that an emergency room visit now takes more than five hours shows that our system is no longer working.”

The regions of Laurentides (7 hours and 16 minutes), Lanaudière (6 hours and 49 minutes) and Laval (6 hours and 45 minutes) are on the podium of the places where emergency visits are the longest in the province .

Montreal is not far behind, with an average of 6 hours 36 minutes.

It is the emergency room of the Anna-Laberge Hospital in Montérégie that wins the prize for the longest visits in Quebec, with a median duration of 10 hours and 27 minutes last year.

“Waiting for the ER is not like waiting for the new iPhone,” Ms.^me Faubert.

“More than ever, Quebecers deserve that the government try new ways of doing things, because the ‘everything to the state’ model has shown us its limits.”