2023-04-18 04:00:00
Quebecers have spent an average of more than 18 hours on a stretcher in emergency rooms across the province this year, the worst result in at least 15 years.
Quebec patients had not waited this long on a stretcher since at least 2008, indicate data from the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) for the year 2022-2023, obtained by The newspaper (see below).
Yesterday, the MSSS might not say when such a long wait dates back. Remember that this year, the provincial objective for the average length of stay on a stretcher is 14 hours.
“It’s the work as a whole that has increased,” laments Dr. Gilbert Boucher, president of the Association of Specialists in Emergency Medicine of Quebec (ASMUQ).
In some regions, the wait is even longer: 24 hours in the Laurentians and Montérégie, 23 hours in Outaouais and 20 hours in Montreal.
No more patients
Last fall, the Minister of Health created a crisis unit to improve the situation in emergencies. It is clear that the benefits are slow to be felt.
“We recognize the problem, we have solutions. In the field, they are not always applied, deplores Dr. Judy Morris, president of the Association of Emergency Physicians of Quebec. It is possible to improve things, but it takes willpower. »
Since 2018, however, the number of emergency room visits has dropped slightly. So why this record? According to many, the shortage of personnel has been the main cause of the problems for months.
“It’s an endless vicious cycle. There are no words to describe the discouragement, ”reacts Mélanie Gignac, president of the union (FIQ) of nurses in Montérégie-Ouest.
Moreover, 24% of patients spend more than 24 hours on a stretcher before having a bed on the floor or being discharged. The government target is zero.
“24-hour delays shouldn’t exist,” says Dr. Morris.
Lack of beds upstairs
Worse still, 7.4% of users spend more than 48 hours on a stretcher. A statistic that has more than doubled in four years.
The long wait in the emergency room is often explained by the lack of beds on the floors, which creates a traffic jam. Currently, 45% of emergency stretchers are occupied by people waiting to be hospitalized, according to ASMUQ.
Some patients with complex issues spend up to 10 days in the emergency room before being discharged.
“It doesn’t make good sense,” laments Dr. Boucher.
too many resignations
The worst stretcher stays in Quebec are in Montérégie: 37 hours on average in Châteauguay, and 34 hours in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
Struggling with severe staffing shortages, these hospitals have seen their wait times jump by at least 10 hours in four years.
“In the past four years, so many people have quit. When you start your shift and four nurses are missing, there are more than 20 patients who do not have an assigned nurse,” laments Ms. Gignac.
THE WORST EMERGENCIES
- Chateauguay 37 h
- Pavillon Albert-Prévost (mental health) in Montreal 35 h
- Salaberry-de-Valleyfield 34 h
- Royal Victoria (CUSM) 33 h
- Lakeshore (Pointe-Claire) 30 h
- Montreal Mental Health University Institute 29 h
- Hull Hospital 29 h
- Santa Cabrini 27 h
- Papineau (Outaouais) 27 h
- Lachute 26 h
- St. Jerome 26 h
- Sacred Heart 25 h
- Our Lady 25 h
- Montreal General Hospital (MUHC) 25 h
- Gatineau 25 h
- Saint Hyacinthe 24 h
- Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu 24 h
- Maisonneuve-Rosemont 24 h
- Maria (Gaspé Peninsula) 24 h
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