Out of breath emergencies | The Press

The various health network performance indicators suggest that the situation is deteriorating in emergency rooms in Quebec. In the Outaouais, the departure of technologists is creating a partial disruption of services in radiation oncology.

Frederik-Xavier Duhamel
The Press

Ariane Lacoursiere
The Press

The Health Index Directory showed an overall occupancy rate of 128% in Quebec emergency rooms around 1 p.m. Tuesday, exceeding the rate for the past 10 days. “It is currently extremely difficult throughout the network,” says the president of the Quebec Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ), Julie Bouchard.

The situation was particularly critical in emergency rooms in the Laurentians, Lanaudière and Montérégie. No less than eight establishments posted stretcher occupancy rates of 200% or more, distributed between Montreal, Montérégie, Laurentides, Lanaudière, Estrie and Côte-Nord.

“The number of visits has increased compared to last year when our staff is reduced due to the vacation period” and COVID-19, according to Dominique Gauthier, spokesperson for the CISSS des Laurentides. His colleague from the CISSS de Lanaudière, Pascale Lamy, sees “no particular reason” to explain the high traffic.

On Monday, the seven-day average occupancy rate in Quebec reached 117%, very close to the peak of 117.2% on May 18. These are the highest average rates recorded for at least two years, according to the dashboard of the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS). The same source says the seven-day average stretcher stay was over 6 p.m. on Monday. These two indexes have been on the rise since the beginning of the month.

The average occupancy rate has not fallen to the target level of 85% since January 2021. The stretcher stay time, meanwhile, has never reached the 14-hour target in the last two years in less. Nearly a third of patients had been waiting for more than 24 hours on a stretcher on Monday, the highest level seen in two years. The government’s target is 0%.

“Patients come to the emergency room because a lot of other services are not available,” says Dr.^D Judy Morris, president of the Association of Emergency Physicians of Quebec (AMUQ), citing long-term or home care, as well as access to surgeries, specialized consultations and the first line. Once admitted, “they can’t go upstairs because we still have a lot of closed beds. […] It’s the personnel issue that really hurts” all over the network, she says.

M^me Bouchard, of the FIQ, also points to the workforce. “However, we warned the government, which did nothing to support the health network before the end of July,” she says.

According to the most recent data available, nearly 76,000 workers were absent from the health network as of July 30. This is a constantly rising total since June, but lower than at the same date last year.

Hospitals also have a high number of patients who no longer require care, but who continue to occupy a bed. Thus, 2,088 patients, or 13% of hospitalized people, are currently waiting for a service, such as a place in a CHSLD or in rehabilitation, to leave.

The waiting list for a place in a CHSLD, which currently has 4,330 names, has not been this long since at least 2019.

Partial disruption of radiation oncology services in Outaouais

The departure of three technologists specializing in radiation oncology has prompted the CISSS de l’Outaouais to reduce its activities at the Gatineau cancer centre.

Patients from Abitibi-Témiscamingue who were previously treated in Gatineau will now be referred to the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) in Montreal. “Depending on the volume of Outaouais patients requiring radiation oncology treatment, some of these patients may need to be transferred,” the CISSS de l’Outaouais said in a press release. The director general of the CISSS de l’Outaouais, Josée Fillion, speaks of about five patients per week from Abitibi-Témiscamingue who will be affected by this change, which will be applied for an indefinite period.

Patients from Abitibi-Témiscamingue already receiving treatment in Outaouais will continue to be treated there. But new patients will have to go to Montreal.

“Rest assured that we will put all the necessary actions in place to resume our usual volume of radiotherapy treatments as soon as possible”, indicates the CISSS, which says it is “hard at work to recruit new technologists”.

The technologists who left the CISSS decided to work in Ontario, explained Mr.^me Fillion at a press conference. “The wage gap is still significant,” says M^me Fillion who talks about a $15 per hour pay gap.