Public asked to avoid Lakeshore Hospital ER this weekend: Montreal health officials

Due to the staffing shortage at Montreal’s Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire, health authorities are asking the public to avoid its emergency room this weekend.

The health care professionals union representing the hospital said in a press release that half of the nurses are missing for several shifts.

Union president Johanne Riendeau added that the hospital’s occupancy rate is currently operating at 150 per cent capacity, and the situation in the hospital’s emergency room is no longer safe for patients or the “exhausted” staff.

“It is no longer possible for us to provide safe and quality care to the population normally served by our establishment,” Riendeau said.

This is not the first time the hospital has issued a warning to the public to avoid its ER due to a lack of health-care staff.

On Friday night, the province’s Index Santé website indicated that the hospital had reached 126 per cent capacity and that 18 patients were staying on stretchers for over 24 hours, while nine patients had been on stretchers for 48 hours.

Other hospitals in Montreal also currently have alarming occupancy rates — the Royal Victoria Hospital is at 155 per cent as of Saturday and the Jewish General Hospital is at 187 per cent.

On its website, the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal says there are alternatives to visiting the emergency room, such as consulting your neighbourhood pharmacist or calling a nurse at 8-1-1.

The soins de santé de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal (SPSSODIM) is maintaining its request from the Quebec government to put in place incentive measures so that the hospital functions with more staff for safer staff-patient ratios to provide quality care to the population.

People in the area can visit the LaSalle Hospital, which is currently at 60 per cent capacity, or the Lachine Hospital, which is at 57 per cent, according to the health officials.

— with files from the Canadian Press

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