The emergency room situation across Quebec shows a significant increase in clinical pressure today, with average stretcher occupancy reaching 101%, up from 93% yesterday. While the total number of patients waiting has decreased by 492, the high occupancy rates in several regions suggest a bottleneck in moving patients from the ER to inpatient beds. Laval and Lanaudière are experiencing the highest levels of strain, reporting occupancy rates of 176% and 150% respectively, indicating facilities are operating well beyond their intended capacity.
Throughout the day, we observed a steady transition in patient volume; the morning started with 1,695 people waiting and 93% occupancy, which shifted to 1,203 waiting and 101% occupancy by the latest report. This trend suggests that while fewer new patients are actively waiting for initial triage or physician consults, the complexity or volume of patients requiring stretchers has intensified. Hôpital Charles-Le Moyne and Hôpital de la Cité-de-la-Santé remain the most burdened individual facilities, each with 45 patients currently waiting for care.