Shortage of nurses: plans to reduce services will be announced this week

According to a compilation of responses obtained by Radio-Canada, establishments such as the CHU de Québec-Université Laval will close 167 beds this summer out of the 1,274 existing beds in its facilities (13%), or about 60 additional beds compared to the average. in May.

At the University Institute of Cardiology and Pulmonology of Quebec-Laval University, we will double the number of closed beds to 24, or 7.4% of existing beds.

In May, an average of 6.7% of the 18,226 existing beds in Quebec were closed, largely due to the lack of manpower.

During her presentation to local media this week, the CEO of the CISSS from Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Caroline Roy, warned the population that the summer holidays and the shortage of 300 nurses were going to have concrete consequences until next September.

We will therefore see a decrease in home care activities, a reduction in mental health services and the closing of hospital beds.

I really want to solicit the collaboration and indulgence of the whole populationsaid Ms. Roy.

One of the strategies is to ask families to pick up their loved one quickly when they are discharged from the hospital.

Of course, if the family [d’un patient] make the effort to pick it up on the day required, it will make that bed available for a person who needs to be hospitalized and receive caresays Ms. Roy.

At the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), a spokesperson said Friday that the ministry was in discussion with the establishments about their plans to reduce services. We are preparing clear indications for the population […] in order to direct patients to the right places, according to priorities. Information will be available in the coming week.

Caution for Greater Montreal

However, several establishments in the greater Montreal area remain cautious in their forecasts. Some say they are sure not to close any extra beds this summer.

The situation is evolving and is assessed daily […]. We sometimes close beds and open them in other areas to better meet the needs of our users.we write to CIUSSS of the West Island of Montreal. In May, there were about thirty beds closed (3.5%) due to equipment breakdown, user isolation, staff shortage, etc..

We do not plan to close any more beds this summerreplied a spokesperson for the CIUSSS from Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Danny Raymond. However, we have little play and a few unforeseen absences can make a big difference in terms of open beds., he added. Nearly 140 beds are closed there out of a total of 489 (28%), which makes it the establishment with the highest percentage of closed beds in Quebec, according to the available data.

We are making every effort to stabilize the situation in view of the summer and to ensure that no more beds are closed.explained the spokesperson for the CIUSSS of the East-of-the-Island-of-Montreal. Less than 10% of existing beds are closed there.

Downstream, no closure is planned at the Cité de la Santé […]. Six intermediate care beds will be converted into medicine beds given the operating room activities for the summer periodsaid the spokesperson for the CISSS of Laval.

In the Laurentians, where 146 beds are closed (13%), we remain cautious by mentioning that for all of our hospitals, the bed capacity of each care unit is mainly modulated according to the availability of staff, according to short-term or prolonged absences. General medicine units are the most affected due to lack of staff.

At CISSS of Montérégie-Centre, during the summer period, at the Haut-Richelieu Hospital, we will close 17 additional beds. We already have 46 beds closed, in particular due to the lack of manpower. More than 15% of the beds will be closed there.

For the three hospitals in the Montérégie-Ouest territory, there are no plans to close any additional beds for the summer period. […] Currently the beds are closed due to labor shortageit says.

A Montérégie medical source who wished to remain anonymous said he believed that anyway, I don’t see how we could close more beds without ending up closing emergencies.

In Outaouais, constant work is done to determine the needs, so we are constantly readjusting to meet the demand according to the sectorswe write.

At the beginning of June, Radio-Canada revealed that some sixty emergency room physicians demanded the opening of hospital beds rather than their partial closure during the summer period. They felt that the quality of care was compromised and that some deaths were even caused by the chaotic situation in the emergency room.

In May 2022, the volumes of hospitalizations and surgeries performed remained lower than the volumes recorded before the pandemic.