MONTREAL - Emergency rooms in Montreal hospitals are overflowing; island-wide, they are working at 142 percent of their normal capacity.
The worst situation is arguably at St. Mary's hospital, which as of 10 a.m. Tuesday morning was operating at 187 percent of capacity and had eight patients who had been waiting on stretchers for more than 24 hours.
Verdun hospital is also overstretched as it deals with 138 ER patients, 13 of whom have been on stretchers for more than 24 hours and 1 who has been waiting at least 48 hours for a bed.
Overall doctors say it is more important to look at the number of patients who have yet to be transferred to a room, and most hospital have none, or a handful, of patients waiting this long.
However the Jewish General has 20 people who have been waiting at least 48 hours for a bed, and at Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital more than 40 people have spent two days on a stretcher.
In all 13 of Montreal's 17 emergency rooms are over-capacity, and doctors and administrators are having a difficult time explaining why that is.
Officials at the Jewish General hospital speculated that it may have many patients waiting to be transferred to physical rehabilitation centres, while Montreal General hospital says it has not noticed any abnormally high number of infections or patients with heat exhaustion.
Doctors say that anyone who is considering going to the ER should take a moment first to determine if that is the best place to seek care.
"A significant number of our beds are taken by patients who should be elsewhere," said Dr. Mark Afilalo, head of the emergency room at the Jewish General.
They say that except in obvious emergencies, people should check with their family doctor first, go to a walk-in clinic, or call Info-Sante at 8-1-1 to consult with a nurse who will also be able to direct people to an ER that has room for new patients.
