Emergency rooms in Quebec are overflowing: Index Santé

As the holidays approach, emergency rooms in some Quebec regions have been overflowing for several days.

Index Santé, which provides regular updates on emergency room situations across Quebec, reports that on seven of the last 10 days, from December 11 to 20, the average occupancy rate has exceeded 100 per cent capacity.

Occupancy is normal Tuesday morning in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine regions.

On the other hand, numbers in three other regions are above 140 per cent.

In Lanaudière, the Centre hospitalier régional de Lanaudière and Hôpital Pierre-Le-Gardeur have occupancies of 173 per cent and 167 per cent, respectively.

Five of the six hospitals in the Laurentians are in the red, with the Hôpital régional de Saint-Jérôme, Hôpital Laurentien and Hôpital de Saint-Eustache reporting occupancies ranging from 134 per cent to 172 per cent.

The average emergency department rate is 140 per cent in the Montérégie, including 184 per cent at Hôpital du Suroît, 173 per cent at Hôpital Honoré-Mercier and 171 per cent at Hôpital Pierre-Boucher.

In each of the latter two cases, 17 patients were on stretchers for at least 48 hours.

Among the 21 hospitals on the Island of Montreal, eight emergency rooms are over capacity.

The Fleury (133 per cent) and Sacré-Coeur (137 per cent) hospitals remain the busiest.

In Quebec City, the situation is most problematic at Hôpital Saint-François-d'Assise and Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, where occupancy rates are 115 per cent and 110 per cent, respectively.

Elsewhere in Quebec, emergency room occupancy rates are high at Le Royer Hospital in Baie-Comeau (240 per cent), Centre-de-la-Mauricie Hospital (132 per cent) and Centre hospitalier Sainte-Croix in Drummondville (126 per cent).

On Monday, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé stated that due to the rampant community transmission of the COVID-19 virus, he may need to consider certain measures to manage the situation in hospitals.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 21, 2021.