Zainab Al-Mehdar
Pontiac Dec. 15 2021
In recent weeks the estimated waiting time in emergency rooms in Quebec has been rising due to the lack of space in some of these emergency rooms.
When asked what CISSSO is doing to alleviate pressure from hospitals, Marie-Pier Després, Media Relations Agent, said that they are monitoring the . . .
situation closely and said “we will ensure that we can free up beds on the floors so that emergency admissions can get a place on a care unit.”
When looking at the data it looks at patients on stretchers, their occupancy rate and the number of patients on stretchers for more than 24 and 48 hours. The data shows that overall the Outaouais is at 124 per cent capacity. Looking at individual emergency rooms, as of Dec. 13 Pontiac hospital is at 100 per cent capacity (four occupied beds), Hull Hospital is 156 per cent occupied (39 occupied beds), Gatineau Hospital is at 121 percent (34 occupied beds), and CLSC de Fort-Coulonge is at zero per cent.
Some of the options that CISSO suggests if you do not have a health condition that requires emergency services would be to try some of these alternatives such as:
Calling Info-Santé at 811
Check the availability of your family doctor
Make an appointment at a medical clinic, with or without an appointment
Consult a pharmacist
Check the services available at the CLSC
For children, there is the Centre de service ambulatoire de pédiatrie de l’Outaouais (0 to 17 years) in Gatineau
Make an appointment at the Médigo Clinic in Hull
Hiring efforts are still ongoing with CISSSO and they have also mentioned that “the new bonuses announced by the government in recent weeks and months, this gives us additional leverage to attract nurses to all of our services and facilities.
You can find all the occupancy of emergencies in real-time at this link: https://www.indexsante.ca/urgences/#Outaouais.
