‘Record’ number of ambulances left waiting outside overcrowded Montreal-area hospital

On Thursday there was a 'record' number of ambulances waiting with patients outside the Anna-Laberge Hospital, according to one paramedic.

Ambulances parked outside overcrowded Montreal-area hospitals has been an ongoing issue in recent years, but on Thursday there was a “record” number of them waiting with patients outside the Anna-Laberge Hospital, according to one paramedic.

During the morning, there were 12 ambulances in the ambulance bay outside the hospital’s emergency room in Châteauguay, on Montreal’s South Shore, said Renaud Pilon, a spokesperson for CETAM, the paramedic service for Quebec’s Montérégie region.

“I was there myself and was stuck there for two hours. For other teams, it was 3, 4, or 6 hours waiting on site with stretchers,” he said in an email.

Pilon said it’s not uncommon for about five or six ambulances to be held for several hours at Anna-Laberge, “but today, it was a particularly stunning number to see.”

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In a statement, the regional health authority, the CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest, called the situation on Thursday “exceptional,” saying that, in fact, 14 ambulances arrived at Anna-Laberge Hospital within a short period of time.

“Nine ambulances were waiting for patients to be taken care of. The emergency medical and clinical teams quickly mobilized to discharge patients and move as many as possible to the wards in order to free up the ambulances as quickly as possible,” the statement read.

“Within [an-hour-and-a-half], all the ambulances had been freed up and the situation was back to normal.”

On Thursday night, the hospital’s ER was operating at 169 per cent capacity, according to indexsante.ca.

The regional health authority says there was a total of 46 ambulances that came to Anna-Laberge on Thursday, which is 25 per cent more than usual.

Spokesperson Jade St-Jean said there will continue to be added pressure on the South Shore hospital until a new hospital in Vaudreuil-Dorion is set to open. The opening of that facility has been postponed to 2027 due to construction delays and staffing issues.

“We’re trying. Everybody’s trying to make sure that we’re seeing people faster,” St-Jean added.

The union president representing 700 paramedics in the region says there are already too many ambulances waiting.

“These vehicles cannot be driven on the road ... and then provide a service to the public. That’s where the danger lies, in providing a service to the public,” said Gaetan Dutil of the CSN union.

Paramedics say they’re ready to sit down with the government to find solution to the ongoing problem.

With files from CTV News’ Olivia O’Malley