Beds closed, operating theaters in slow motion, deliveries transferred: the glaring lack of personnel is paralyzing the health network like never before, deplore doctors. Meanwhile, waiting lists are breaking records.
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The newspaper identified all service failures in the network (see below). First observation: all regions are affected.
- At the Saint-Jérôme hospital, 81 beds in two units have been closed for almost a year.
- At the Lachine hospital, two out of three operating rooms are closed.
- In the Outaouais, only 34% of the region’s hospital operating rooms are used.
Although the fall is normally a period when the network is running at full speed, the shortage of personnel seriously slows down the pace.
“We depend on so many staff, we need doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, attendants … It’s a chain and any link that is missing, everything collapses, explains Dr. Lior Bibas, a cardiologist who works in intensive care at the Pierre-Boucher hospital in Longueuil. As a doctor, I am discouraged by the situation. I don’t see how we can get out of this. »
A breaking point
Meanwhile, waiting records add up:
- 160,684 Quebecers wait for surgery in Quebec
- 17,691 seniors hope to receive home care
- 4,381 seniors are waiting for a place in a CHSLD
According to the Quebec Doctors for the Public Regime (MQRP) group, the deterioration of the network has reached a “wall”.
“Right now, there is a breaking point, we have reached an unprecedented situation, notes Dr. Karyne Pelletier. We let a problem grow and rot. It’s hard to manage, and it’s going to cost more. »
Too far to get treatment
In the Laurentians, the glaring lack of personnel is making the situation critical in several places. According to the Coalition santé Laurentides, the infrastructures are the same as 30 years ago, but the population has practically doubled.
“My concern is that people are not getting treatment. If it’s too far, people won’t go. The disease may get worse, it will cost the health system even more,” laments the president of this coalition, Marc L’Heureux.
According to Dr. Pelletier, the solution involves adding staff to the public network, not new structures.
“We are multiplying physical places rather than staffer what already exists, she says. We are discouraged that the proposed solutions always want to reinvent the wheel, like creating a new mini-hospital [privé]. We have the premises, but working conditions must be improved to retain staff. »
– With the collaboration of Hugo Duchaine and Louis Deschênes
The newspaper identified all service failures in the health network with integrated health and social services centers (CISSS). Here is the list of everything that is currently closed.
Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean
Some services are modulated according to the available staff
- Dolbeau-Mistassini Hospital
Occasional closure of the obstetrics department on weekends - Jonquiere Hospital
1 operating room closed 3 days a week - Alma Hospital
1 operating room closed 3 days a week - Roberval Hospital
1 operating room
National Capital
- CHU of Quebec
5 operating rooms out of 48
Mauricie-Center of Quebec
- Trois-Rivières Hospital Center
27 beds
2 operating rooms - Hotel-Dieu d’Arthabaska (Victoriaville)
4 beds
1 operating room - Shawinigan Hospital
1 operating room - Sainte-Croix Hospital (Drummondville)
8 beds - La Tuque Hospital
2 closed cardiac monitoring beds - Fortierville
The emergency room closes at 8 p.m. rather than midnight (waiting for the arrival of new doctors)
Estrie
- All the operating theaters in the region are operating at 80%
- 42 closed beds
- Coaticook Hospital
Emergency partially open (8 a.m. to 10 p.m.)
Montreal
- Neurological Institute (MUHC)
1 to 2 out of 4 operating rooms - Royal Victoria (MUHC)
1 out of 10 operating rooms - Lachine Hospital
2 out of 3 operating rooms
Emergency closed to ambulances from 7:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. - Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital
29 beds
3 intensive care beds - Santa Cabrini
25 beds
3 intensive care beds - LaSalle Hospital
Closure of 4 beds out of 12 in neonatal care. Transfers of women who are about to give birth are planned when possible.
1 out of 4 operating rooms
Decrease in external physiotherapy services (5 days a week). Users are transferred to the Lakeshore hospital.
2 beds out of 8 in intensive care - St. Mary’s Hospital
2 beds out of 7 in intensive care
2 out of 4 beds in the coronary unit - Lakeshore Hospital (Pointe-Claire)
Closure of an operating room reserved for cataracts (out of a total of 7). Patients are sent to a private clinic. - Montreal Heart Institute
Partial closure of 1 out of 3 electrophysiology rooms
“Sporadic” cancellations of surgeries - Jewish General Hospital
1 out of 13 operating theaters
6 out of 30 intensive care beds
8 hospital beds - Sacred Heart Hospital
2 out of 10 operating rooms - Jean Talon Hospital
2 out of 5 operating rooms
Outaouais
- “Precarious” situation in several imaging departments, laboratories and care units
- Hospital operating theaters are operating at 34%. At least, agreements with private surgery clinics make it possible to achieve 88% activity.
- 5 closed intensive care beds
- 36% of medical/surgical beds are not available
Pontiac Hospital (Shawville)
No obstetrics service since February 2020
Gatineau Cancer Center
Partial break in service in radiotherapy for residents of Abitibi-Témiscamingue
North Coast
- Port Cartier Hospital
Emergency closed to patients classified as non-urgent between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. - Forestville
Partial radiology department
Gaspesie
- Sainte-Anne-des-Monts Hospital
Obstetrics: a nurse on site from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Patients are taken care of by the emergency department or sent to Matane
Chaudiere-Appalaches
- Hôtel-Dieu of Lévis
2 operating rooms out of 8
Laval
- City-of-Health (Laval)
Break in service for opioid antagonist therapy.
Lanaudiere
- 48 closed beds in CHSLDs
- Joliette Hospital
2 operating rooms
37 beds - Pierre-Le Gardeur
2 operating rooms
Laurentians
- St. Jerome Hospital
2 operating rooms out of 8
81 beds in two medical units
Medical imaging and scopy: transferred elsewhere, except emergencies - Saint-Eustache Hospital
1 out of 2 cardiac ultrasound rooms
1 out of 7 operating rooms
3 out of 12 intensive care beds - Rivière-Rouge Hospital
2 intensive care beds
Night medical imaging - Mont-Laurier Hospital
10 to 14 out of 42 beds in the medical unit
3 pediatric beds
Mammograms (except emergencies)
Monteregie
- Charles-Le Moyne Hospital (Longueuil)
3 out of 10 operating rooms
30 beds - Haut-Richelieu Hospital (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu)
38 beds - Suroît Hospital (Salaberry-de-Valleyfield)
1 out of 4 operating rooms
These CISSSs did not respond to the Log :
- National Capital
- Bas-Saint-Laurent (refusal)
- Abitibi-Temiscamingue