The Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital emergency room may have been closed for just one night earlier this week, but three days later the situation “remains precarious,” according to the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center ( CIUSSS) of the East-of-the-Island-of-Montreal.
“We are in an hour-to-hour management situation that remains difficult given the staff currently available,” acknowledged the President and CEO of the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île, Jean-François Fortin Verreault, in a statement released Thursday evening.
Because of this situation, the CIUSSS recommends that people who are not dealing with a real emergency prefer other ways of accessing the health network, such as their family doctor, if they have one. Walk-in clinics and the 8-1-1 line are also available options.
According to the CIUSSS, nearly 60 patients come to the Maisonneuve-Rosemont emergency room every day with health problems “that could be treated elsewhere”. At the Santa Cabrini Hospital, also located in the east end of Montreal, some 25 people come to the emergency room daily with a problem deemed not to be a priority.
The crisis at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont reached its climax on Monday evening, when the emergency room had to be closed for the entire following night because nurses refused to work. They demonstrated to denounce the management practices of management, in particular concerning the use of compulsory overtime.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, intervened in the file and called on an external adviser to try to improve relations between the nurses and the management. A head of unit, whose resignation was demanded by a hundred nurses, was also transferred and “will no longer be in direct contact with the team, so that everyone can find their account”, confirmed Mr. Fortin Verreault.
Volunteers to the rescue
Since the beginning of the crisis, several nurses have volunteered to come and lend a hand to Maisonneuve-Rosemont, a gesture that the CIUSSS welcomed in its press release.
“We confirm that we will take all the help that will be offered to us from the experienced nursing staff available, that is to say nurses, nursing assistants and orderlies,” wrote the management of the CIUSSS.
An email address has been set up for health professionals who would like to help the teams at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont (HMR).
“The situation remains difficult at HMR. I invite volunteers to lend a hand and patients with [un] less urgent problem using options like 8-1-1. Thank you to the neighboring hospitals for their collaboration. We follow the evolution with the people in the field, ”assured Minister Dubé on Twitter, Thursday evening.