The emergency was overflowing regularly with an occupancy rate of around 175%.
Stretcher patients were found in the hallway and reports suggested that patient safety and quality of care were compromised.
We have seen cases where people were for all intents and purposes hospitalized in the emergency room and returned home after 48 hours, up to 6 days on a stretcher in the emergency room.
, points out the Ombudsperson, Marie Rinfret.
In a recently published intervention report, investigators were able to confirm that care is not given or is offered in an inadequate place, medication errors are observed, some users are not well supervised [et] the risk of deteriorating the physical and cognitive capacities of the elderly visiting the emergency room is increased
.
Marie Rinfret, Ombudsperson.
Photo: Radio-Canada
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From the moment our investigation began, specifies Ms. Rinfret, we called on the ministry (MSSS), which is not something that we usually do, but there we saw an emergency that there was danger in it. remains.
I want us to really take action because there are issues of safety and quality of care
, she emphasizes.
45,000 people attend this emergency each year.
Unfortunately, this is not the only emergency and as such we are in intervention elsewhere
, says Ms. Rinfret.
A lack of personnel
All over Quebec, hospital nursing staff are increasing the number of sit-ins and calls for help on social networks because of the staff shortage.
For Mélanie Gignac, president of the Union of Healthcare Professionals of Montérégie-Ouest (FIQ-SPSMO), on the South Shore we have passed the bottom, we are at a point of no return
.
According to her, more than 1,000 nurses, nursing assistants and respiratory therapists positions to be filled are estimated
.
Mélanie Gignac, President of the Union of Healthcare Professionals of Montérégie-Ouest (FIQ-SPSMO)
Photo : Radio-Canada / Davide Gentile
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Overtime is common.
We let nurses work 16 hours, two, three, even four times in the same week!
, she laments. We constantly wonder where the Order of Nurses is to protect the public.
At the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ), the director of the president’s office, Colette Ouellet, specifies in writing that measures must be taken to change the organization of work and provide nurses with all the support they need to practice their profession in better conditions
.
The Québec Ombudsperson makes the recruitment of staff her priority recommendation in order to ensure that a sufficient number of nurses are present in the emergency department of Anna-Laberge Hospital, on all shifts
.
Ms. Rinfret also recommends that the Ministry of Health and Social Services prioritize the CISSS Montérégie-Ouest when recruiting graduate nurses outside Quebec.
According to our information, Quebec recruited a few hundred nurses abroad last year, well below the mandates entrusted by many establishments throughout Quebec.
Deficient care in the emergency department of the Anna-Laberge Hospital
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Need 45 beds
The lack of hospital beds is often blamed to explain the difficulties of the emergency at the Anna-Laberge Hospital. There are currently 201.
The neighboring Suroît hospital is not enough and a new hospital is due to open in the region in five years in 2026.
We demand from the CISSS […] to appoint responsible people for projects to build a modular complex, to add hospital beds […] can move forward and have staff see the light at the end of the tunnel
, launches the Ombudsperson.
The report specifies that part of the 45 beds planned for the modular complex had already been authorized by the ministry in 2018. The Québec Ombudsman has trouble explaining these delays
, specifies the report.
Work is also recommended so that triage staff can have eye contact with all patients. Instead, a wall was erected during the pandemic and stretchers are found in a corridor.
Lack of leadership
Emergency management also needs a captain.
Selon Marie Rinfret, we come to a pivotal moment because there is a new CEO at the CISSS Montérégie Ouest and they are recruiting to find someone who will direct the emergency at Anna-Laberge
.
We follow this so that someone is designated, truly responsible, accountable for the results, to correct the observed shortcomings and apply a decluttering plan
, specifies Marie Rinfret.
For Gilbert Boucher, President of the Association of Specialists in Emergency Medicine of Quebec, there is a management and leadership problem, as we know, for several years at Anna-Laberge
.
In his opinion [derrière] the emergencies that work in Quebec, it takes a general management that supports emergencies, it takes a director of professional services, it takes strong leadership.
Gilbert Boucher, President of the Quebec Association of Emergency Medicine Specialists.
Photo: Radio-Canada
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Emergencies under surveillance
According to statistics consulted by Radio-Canada, the emergency room at the Anna-Laberge Hospital is among those where the length of stay on a stretcher is the longest in Quebec.
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During our visit on September 1, the occupancy rate on a stretcher was 175% with 27 people on a stretcher for more than 24 hours and 7 for more than 48 hours.
For us, this is a very important file that we are following with great attention because, as part of my mandate, I must protect users of the health and social services network.
, adds Marie Rinfret.
Six follow-ups every three months will begin at the end of October 2021.
At the MSSS, a spokesperson specifies in writing: We accept recommendations […], it was agreed with the Québec Ombudsman that the implementation of the recommendations would be followed up this fall.
The CISSS Montérégie-Ouest preferred not to comment for the moment.
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