Quebec emergency rooms are overwhelmed; Santé Québec expects an increase in patients

Quebec emergency rooms are overwhelmed again, but some regions are faring better than others.

On Monday morning, the stretcher occupancy rate for the entire province was 128 per cent, with Santé Québec saying it expects an increase in the coming days, due in part to the flu season reaching its peak.

Among the regions where the situation is most critical are the Laurentians, with an occupancy rate of 173 per cent; Laval, with a rate of 180 per cent; and the Outaouais, with an occupancy rate of 182 per cent in emergency rooms.

The Montreal region, which is usually one of the busiest, has an occupancy rate of 135 per cent.

“It’s clear that today, with the outside temperature, we’re seeing a lot of falls and a lot of calls to our ambulance services, particularly Urgences-Santé in the Montreal-Laval region. We are all working together to see how we can deal with this situation,” said Véronique Wilson, executive director of coordination, access, integrated emergency and front-line services at Santé Québec.

“This is a situation that occurs during the winter season, which is also flu season. We are prepared to deal with this situation, but it explains why our emergency rates are higher than usual. However, we currently have the situation under control,” she added.

Several regions remained below the 100 per cent occupancy rate as of Monday morning.

This was the case in Quebec City (97 per cent), Abitibi-Témiscamingue (51 per cent), Bas-Saint-Laurent (87 per cent), Côte-Nord (93 per cent), Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine (75 per cent) and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (69 per cent).

Following the rush of holiday gatherings, which are conducive to the transmission of respiratory viruses, Santé Québec says it anticipates an increase in emergency room traffic.

“We believe that it will increase over the next few days, hoping that we will soon reach the peak of the flu season and that it will then decline,” said Wilson.

Long wait in the ER

According to Index Santé, the average wait time in the emergency rooms was more than five hours on Sunday, and the average length of stay for people on a stretcher was 17 hours.

Based on the average over the last seven days, the length of stay on a stretcher in Greater Montreal exceeded 19 hours and was more than 16 hours for the province as a whole, according to Santé Québec.

“We have seen a slight increase in the average length of stay on a stretcher compared to the same period last year, which can be explained by the flu peak. If we look at last year’s flu peak, we are below the average length of stay we had at that time,” Wilson said.

Santé Québec says it is relying heavily on the Info-Santé 811 phone line to relieve pressure on emergency rooms.

There are currently about 7,400 calls per day to 811, compared to 6,200 last year.

“We are also seeing good results in terms of referrals. Thirty-seven per cent of people who call 811 will be able to resolve their issue with self-care advice at home. Thirty per cent are referred to medical clinics, and only one in six people who call Info-Santé are referred to our emergency rooms. So, it’s really worth calling Info-Santé if you have health concerns so you can be properly referred and avoid the emergency room when possible,” said Wilson.

According to figures from Santé Québec, there is currently a wait time of approximately 1 hour and 32 minutes on the 811 telephone line dedicated to flu and gastro symptoms.

The wait time is similar for pediatric needs (1 hour and 28 minutes) and reaches 2 hours and 30 minutes for the general line.

You can leave your phone number for a health care professional to call you back when the line is free, while maintaining your call priority.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 29, 2025.

The Canadian Press’s health coverage is supported by a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for this journalistic content.