Montreal ERs continue to grow increasingly crowded, with the average stretcher occupancy rate reaching 141 per cent, and ER wait times averaging at five hours as of Monday.<\/p>\n
Three of the city\u2019s English-language hospitals are the hardest hit, with the Jewish General Hospital at 211 per cent, Royal Victoria Hospital at 218 per cent, and Lakeshore General Hospital at 219 per cent. The Montreal General Hospital was at 168 per cent on Monday.<\/p>\n
While Quebec\u2019s ERs have suffered overcrowding and long wait times for several years, occupancy rates reaching even 140 or 150 per cent is \u201cunusual\u201d for this time of the season, according to Dr. Guillaume Lacombe, a physician working in the ER at the Centre hospitalier r\u00e9gional de Lanaudi\u00e8re.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s summer, so a lot of the clinics have reduced hours, or there\u2019s holidays. It\u2019s not only the doctors, but you know the nurses and all the physical therapists and all the clinics. So it might be a bit harder for a lot of patients to access primary care. That\u2019s why they resort to emergency,\u201d Lacombe said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re already in a situation where we have barely enough staff to take care of everyone,\u201d he added, which can add pressure during the summer holiday season. On top of that, several hospital ERs in Montreal have seen patients suffering from heat-related illnesses, Lacombe said.<\/p>\n
According to MUHC emergency doctor Greg Clark, over the last two to three years at the Royal Victoria Hospital, the occupancy rate has been \u201cconsistently above 200 most days of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re frustrated. Emergency doctors are frustrated; they can\u2019t help as many people because of system problems. The nurses and support workers, patient attendants and coordinators are all still frustrated because we want to help,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cWe\u2019re handcuffed with our current system.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted the ER congestion makes it harder for doctors to see new patients, since admitted patients are not being moved quickly enough to the correct ward or department, putting extra pressure on the front-line doctors and healthcare workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have what we call boarding, which means admitted patients have prolonged stays in the emergency department. Why that affects us is that means that not only are we taking on the new patients that are arriving, we\u2019re also dealing with patients that should be in another part of the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
MUHC spokesperson Evelyne Dufresne said the sustained pressure in its emergency departments are due to a combination of factors, \u201cincluding seasonal viruses, an increase in trauma-related cases during the summer months, heat-related illnesses and the summer vacation period,\u201d she wrote in an email statement. She noted many hospitals across the province suffer from similar issues.<\/p>\n
Sant\u00e9 Qu\u00e9bec Ouest-de-l\u2019\u00cele-de-Montr\u00e9al, the network that includes Lakeshore General Hospital, echoed the MUHC. \u201cAlthough extreme heat waves may lead to an increase in visits related to dehydration or heat-related illnesses, wait times are influenced by several factors, including patient volume, case complexity, the availability of hospital beds, and the diagnostic tests required,\u201d a spokesperson wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n
The Royal Victoria\u2019s 218 per cent occupancy rate is \u201cnot normal for the summer,\u201d said president of the MUHC\u2019s users\u2019 committee Pierre Hurteau.<\/p>\n
\u201c(People) are always saying, \u2018Ah, the problem is that there\u2019s so many people there in the ER that should not be there. That\u2019s why there\u2019s a problem.\u2019\u201d But he said that hasn\u2019t been true in recent weeks at the MUHC, noting he\u2019s seen many seniors in the emergency department who appeared seriously ill and require emergency care, and belong at the hospital rather than a clinic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see what a family doctor can do in that case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Compared to this time last year, the average wait in the ER before being assigned a bed in a hospital ward has also climbed. In late June 2025, the average wait was 22 hours. As of late June 2026, the average wait is 23.5 hours. In that same time period, the wait time to see a doctor for priority-level patients has jumped from two hours and 21 minutes to two hours and 35 minutes.<\/p>\n
For non-urgent health issues, the MUHC and the Sant\u00e9 Qu\u00e9bec West-Central Montreal Health and Social Services University Network representing the Jewish General Hospital encourage patients to call Info-Sant\u00e9 811<\/a> for advice on the most appropriate resource, which could be a family physician, a pharmacist, a walk-in clinic, or the GAP (Guichet d\u2019acc\u00e8s \u00e0 la premi\u00e8re ligne)<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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