It is in Quebec that we wait the longest to receive emergency hospital care, show new data from the federal government. Half of Quebecers who were admitted to hospital after going to the emergency room in 2021-2022 waited more than 19.4 hours.
These figures illustrate that “there are still many challenges in Quebec’s emergency rooms,” said the president of the Association of Specialists in Emergency Medicine of Quebec, Dr.r Gilbert Boucher.
Prince Edward Island follows Quebec closely with a wait time of 19.2 hours. Yukon and Saskatchewan fare best with a wait of 7 and 8 hours.
At present, the time between the patient’s request for admission and the moment he goes upstairs is 16 to 18 hours on average in Quebec, “while the standard should be 2 hours”, illustrates Mr. . Butcher.
For Paul G. Brunet, President and CEO of the Council for the Protection of the Sick, this waiting period is “ridiculous”.
If we want to improve the reputation of the health network, we have to work on [améliorer le temps d’attente].
Paul G. Brunet, President and CEO of the Council for the Protection of the Sick
According to him, it is “not normal to wait several hours”. “Emergency is for urgent care. If it’s not urgent, we should be seen elsewhere,” he said. The Dr Close the second. “We need to find more efficient ways to use our beds, by better defining the transition between the emergency room and the floors,” he said.
Marked increase in visits
Data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information also show an increase in emergency room traffic across the country. The reported number of visits in the past year has increased from approximately 11.7 million in 2020-2021 to almost 14.0 million in 2021-2022. The number of visits is almost back to what it was before the pandemic.
This increase was particularly marked among children aged 0 to 4 years. The volume of visits increased from just over 567,000 in 2020-2021 to more than 1 million in 2021-2022, almost doubling.
The most common problems diagnosed in the emergency department were abdominal and pelvic pain, as well as throat and chest pain. COVID-19 ranks fourth.
Fortunately, COVID-19 has been significantly less bogging down hospital systems for a few months now. “There are still some in the hospitals, but in the waiting rooms, it’s really more the influenza”, indicates the Dr Butcher. “Someone who is healthy and has COVID, you hardly see that in the hospital anymore,” he said.
A “very congested” network
The attendance rate in Quebec’s emergency rooms continues its upward trend. It averaged 128.3% in the past week, a new high since the start of the pandemic.
At present, “the entire Quebec health network is very congested”, especially due to the strong transmission of influenza which “adds to the increased demand”, maintains the Dr Butcher.
The emergency departments receive 10,482 visits per day on average. Of the number, 53% are deemed to be “less urgent or non-urgent”. “There shouldn’t be thousands of patients coming to the emergency room for care that isn’t urgent, because they haven’t found other places to receive them,” laments Mr. Brunet.
In the past week, 811 received an average of 3,743 calls per day. The average waiting time on the line is 15 minutes. However, about 22% of people end the call before speaking to a nurse.