Although cases of COVID 19 have dropped considerably, the situation in Quebec's emergency departments is far from improving. The emergency department at Hôpital du Suroît in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield is far from being an exception. In fact, La Presse gave the regional hospital a D grade in its ranking of Quebec's emergency rooms.

To rank Quebec's emergency rooms, La Presse used the following criteria: Based on various criteria, including: average length of stay (number of hours spent in the ER); percentage of stays of 48 hours or more; percentage of people aged 75 or over who present; percentage of stretcher cases requiring hospitalization. 

Analysis of the data available on the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux dashboard and shared by the Centre intégré de santé et services sociaux de la Montérégie-Ouest (CISSSMO) reveals that from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, 41,095 patients visited the Suroît Hospital emergency department.

Over 26,000 of these patients were considered ambulatory, meaning they visited the ER for more minor problems.  

Interestingly, these data - the number of visits and the total number of ambulatory patients - are higher than those recorded during the pandemic, i.e. during the 2020-2021 period. 

“The number of emergency room visits has increased by 25% since 2020-2021,” CISSSMO's communications department told Neomedia.

" This increase is attributable, among other things, to the aging of the population, since since 2020-2021, “there has been an increase of more than 28% in the number of patients aged 75 and over,” adds CISSSMO.

In 2020-2021, 6,489 patients aged 75 and over presented to the Suroît Hospital emergency department, versus 8,342 for the 2023-2024 period. The same is true for mental health users.During the pandemic period, 2,645 people visited the emergency room, compared with 3,196 in 2023-2024.

Data presented by the MSSS and CISSSMO also show that the number of patients managed is also higher than during the pandemic: 32,555 versus 28,650.

According to CISSSMO, major trauma, general weakness, dyspnea, chest pain, lower limb pain and abdominal pain are the most frequent reasons why people go to the emergency department. 

Emergency room turnaround times have remained relatively stable. During the pandemic, it was 1h07, while in 2023-2024 it will be 1h29. 

The average ED length of stay has almost returned to pandemic levels, with an average of 28 hours. For the periods 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, the average ED length of stay oscillated between 32 and 34 hours.

“Our teams are working tirelessly to improve the situation in our emergency departments. We would also like to take this opportunity to remind the public to use emergency departments only for real emergencies.Various consultation options are available at www.urgenceoupas.ca.”