2023-12-27 12:10:45
(Montreal) The drop in the occupancy rate of emergency rooms in Quebec which might be observed from December 19 ended on Tuesday.
Posted at 7:10 a.m.
Jean-Philippe Denoncourt The Canadian Press
The Index Santé site noted that this average rate had increased to 95% on December 26, before jumping to 112% on Wednesday morning, shortly before 6 a.m., which was considered very high.
Among the 14 regions of Quebec, eight showed an occupancy rate above 100% on Wednesday, including some of the most populous.
In Montreal, the average occupancy rate was 118%; 15 of the 21 hospital centers with an emergency room had an occupancy greater than 100%. It was 172% at the Jewish General Hospital, 160% at LaSalle Hospital and 150% at Verdun Hospital.
Among the 14 regions, the highest average rate was 148% in the Laurentians, where each of the six emergency rooms was overflowing. The rate was 138% in Lanaudière, 133% in Laval, 129% in Montérégie, 124% in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 117% in Outaouais and 112% in the Mauricie/Centre-du-Québec region.
In Quebec and Chaudière-Appalaches, the average occupancy rate fluctuated between 92% and 96%. It was 96% in Estrie and 80% on the North Shore.
The only region which displayed a rate considered normal was that of Gaspésie/Îles-de-la-Madeleine, at 66%.
On Tuesday, the average length of time people stayed in the waiting room was just over four and a half hours, but the average time spent waiting on a stretcher was 15 hours and 40 minutes.
Wednesday morning, shortly before daybreak, there were 3,380 people in Quebec emergency rooms.
Last week, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, asked for the population’s help to relieve Quebec’s emergencies during the holiday season. He pointed out that there is a large proportion of people who consult the emergency room without having an urgent problem.
The minister invited these people to use other available options during the holidays, including family medicine or specialized nurse practitioner clinics and pharmacies that can provide professional advice. He recalled that the 811 telephone service allows you to speak to a nurse and, sometimes, to obtain an appointment.
For his part, the president of the Association of Emergency Medicine Specialists of Quebec, Dr. Gilbert Boucher, deplored the fact that too many Quebecers presented themselves in emergency rooms without having benefited from basic care.
Faced with the sharp increase in circulation of COVID-19 and influenza viruses, the national director of public health, Dr. Luc Boileau, invited people to be vaccinated to slow the spread and avoid complications.
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