summer er overcrowding worse than last year despite santé québec’s efforts

despite santé québec's stated mission to make the province's health-care system more efficient, the situation in hospital emergency rooms is markedly worse this summer than for the same period last year.the average length of stay for admitted er patients jumped one hour and 33 minutes to nearly 24 hours for the period of may 31 to june 27, compared with the corresponding time last year. the latest stats would appear to fly in the face of claims by santé québec that it has made progress in dealing with the province's er crisis since it took over the network from the provincial health ministry in december 2024.dr. gilbert boucher, president of the association des spécialistes en médecine d'urgence du québec (asmuq), confirmed to the gazette that there's been an increase in er overcrowding this summer, but added "we do not know why."

patient-rights advocate paul brunet, of the conseil pour la protection des malades, lamented the worsening situation even though santé québec and the doctors' federations have both pledged to streamline the system."why aren't the numbers going down?" brunet asked. "unfortunately, these figures are not showing that anything is being done."by every measure, the er stats are worse. for example, the average stay of a patient on a stretcher was 17 hours and five minutes on july 19, the most recent date available on santé québec's dashboard. on the corresponding date last year, the average wait was 15 hours and 37 minutes.

santé québec falling short of its own er goals

before santé québec assumed control of the public medical network, the provincial health ministry had set a target of less than 16 hours for patients on stretchers. at some hospitals, like the royal victoria in montreal, patients have sometimes languished on stretchers for four or five days.santé québec has since dropped that target.still, the state corporation managing health care is not meeting the sole revised target it has made public to reduce the average length of stay for admitted er patients. that target is 21 hours and 30 minutes for this year. but during the most recent period ending june 27, the average stay was 23 hours and 36 minutes.yet that didn't stop a santé québec spokesperson from asserting that the er situation improved last year."despite increased pressure, including a rise in (er) visits and more urgent cases, santé québec has already observed improvements in several areas in 2025-2026," catherine brousseau said in a statement. "these gains demonstrate that the actions implemented — improved flow, support for teams, and better organization of patient pathways — are producing results, even though demand remains high."however, the 2025-2026 fiscal year ended on march 31. brousseau did not address the latest summer er numbers.brunet estimated that about half of er stays are taken up by the elderly. he suggested that more home care would reduce the burden on emergency departments."if you follow the elders at home, you reduce the necessity of transporting them to the emergency ward by 50 per cent because they're less sick," brunet explained. "but we don't do that. we leave them alone at home and when they're very sick we call an ambulance. that's not how it should be."although the wait list for home care has dropped from nearly 20,000 in july 2024 to 12,391 as of may 30, brunet suggested those figures don't tell the whole story."the complaints i get are that people are being told they're being re-evaluated for home care and they're getting less hours. so that means they're able to offer home care to more people but with fewer hours."aderfel@postmedia.comx.com/aaron_derfel

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