Taking stock of this peak period which returns every year after the holidays, Santé Québec reported on Friday an emergency occupancy rate which increased from 113% last year to 106% this year for the period from December 28 to January 8, despite the number of emergency room visits remaining stable. However, it remains at 145% in the Montreal region.
As for the second indicator closely monitored by Santé Québec, the average length of stay, this has decreased by 1.3 hours per patient compared to last year, but still remains at 17.9 hours.
Uneven performance
Of course, the situation is unequal from one establishment to another. Thus, of the 55 large hospitals with 100 beds or more, nearly two thirds (63%) of them, or 35, saw an improvement in both indicators, 13 (24%) saw an improvement in one of both indicators while seven of them (13%) saw a deterioration in both indicators. Four of these are located in the greater Montreal area, namely the Montreal General Hospital, the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital, the Santa-Cabrini Hospital and the Cité de la santé de Laval. The other three are the Center de la Mauricie hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis and the Saint-Jérôme regional hospital.
Frédéric Abergel, executive vice-president of operations and transformation at Santé Québec, attributes a large part of this improvement to the fact that, for the first time, preparations for the winter peak began in July.
According to him, the network and its emergencies have moved from a crisis mode to a mode of continuous improvement. Mr. Abergel also placed great emphasis on the autonomy of hospital centers, in the sense that they work to implement measures that are specific to them and adapted to their reality in addition to the solutions put forward in a more centralized manner by Santé Québec. .
Always too many unnecessary visits
One of the problems, however, remains unnecessary attendance at emergency rooms. Nearly half (44.5%) of emergency department visits are from patients whose needs are not urgent and could be treated first-line. However, the first line increased the number of appointments by 23%, thanks in particular to additional efforts by family doctors.
This is why Santé Québec wanted to remind you that there are other options than the emergency, in this case 811 Info-Santé or Info-Social, the First Line Access Desk, pharmacists and family doctors. Véronique Wilson, deputy director general at Santé Québec, however recognized that despite this increase in supply, it is not always easy to see a family doctor.
