The number of patients who leave emergency rooms before being treated is increasing in Quebec, according to the results of a study by the Montreal Economic Institute published Thursday.
In 2023-2024, over a period of approximately 11 months, 3.2 million patients presented themselves to the emergency department in Quebec and 11.5 per cent of them, or 376,460 people, left before receiving medical treatment.
By comparison, in 2018-2019, that figure was just over 10 per cent, or 378,348 patients, out of a total of 3.7 million visits.
“One in two people waits more than five hours in emergency rooms in Quebec. It’s not surprising that there are several who will leave,” said Emmanuelle B. Faubert, author of the MEI study.
Patients referred to another health-care professional who can meet their needs are not included in this data since they are considered to have been taken care of.
“It remains an increase because the study period in 2023-2024 was 11 months. So we see that in 11 months, (…) we have essentially the same number of patients who left the emergency room before treatment compared with (a period of) one year from five years ago,” Faubert said.
She said she is particularly concerned about the 103,715 patients in categories priority 1 (P1), priority 2 (P2) and priority 3 (P3), who correspond to more urgent cases.
According to data Faubert obtained from the Ministry of Health and Social Services, 25.3 per cent of priority 3 patients left the emergency room before medical treatment, 2.2 per cent in P2, and 0.03 per cent of P1 patients.
The proportion of P1 to P3 patients who left the emergency room due to not having had a professional treat them increased to 27.5 per cent in 2023-2024 from 21.9 per cent in 2018-2019.
“It’s a big problem because it shows that our health system is incapable of taking care of Quebecers. And it’s dangerous when we think that the population is aging and needs are increasing,” Faubert said.
For less urgent cases (priorities 4 and 5), more than 70 per cent of patients decided to leave the emergency room without having been treated.
“People who are not urgent (cases), they don’t go (to the emergency room) for an outdoor walk. They go there because they need help, they need care, whether it’s urgent or not,” she said.
“They go there because they cannot find a better option elsewhere because we have a problem of access to primary care,” the MEI economist said.
She said patients who leave without having been treated run the risk that their conditions will worsen and that they will return to the emergency room with more complicated cases.
Specialized nurse practitioner clinics can be part of the solution, according to Faubert.
The province has 11 and their number is expected to double by 2028, but the economist thinks the province needs to deploy more of them more quickly.
She is encouraged by the fact that nurse practitioners can now take care of patients registered with the Québec Family Doctor Finder (GAMF). “It’s a step in the right direction,” she said.
— With files from Global News’ Brayden Jagger Haines