Pediatric 811 line now available throughout Quebec

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube said the pediatric health 811 line is now expanded to the entire province.

Dube made the announcement when addressing the state of the province's emergency rooms heading into the holiday season.

The health line was previously only available in the Greater Montreal Area to relieve pressure on the overtaxed ERs in the area. The program was extended to Quebec City and elsewhere in the province.

Dube said each time the ministry introduced the 811 line, numbers in ERs went down.

He said the policy is here to stay and will be expanded.

"It's important," said Dube. "Today we're answering the phone, in a few months we'll do it on Facetime."

After that, Dube said it would function similar to the Clic-Sante online portals.

Dube said the combination of measures is making a difference.

"Today, we still are at roughly 10,000 visits in emergency rooms in all Quebec," he said. "This is the same volume that we had last year, but in a different context, we have three viruses [RSV, COVID-19 and influenza]."

Dube said the ministry continues to ask retired nurses to return to answer the 811 lines. He said the program has already added 80 new employees.

ERs OVER CAPACITY

According to Index Sante, Montreal's ERs are currently operating at 125 per cent capacity, and across the province, hospitals are at 120 per cent.

The most taxed ERs in the province are the Pontiac Hospital (225 per cent), Mont-Laurier Hospital (220 per cent), and the CLSC Saint-Marc-des-Carrieres (200 per cent).

Sixty-two other hospitals in Quebec are operating at or over 100 per cent capacity, according to the site.

The health ministry recently opened its fifth specialized nurse-led clinic in Laval to relieve pressure on hospital ERs, and there are three clinics already open in Montreal and one in Saguenay.  

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