The critical situation in the emergency room of the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital is due to an imbalance between the number of patients and the capacity of the health services in this sector of the city, concludes a report by the intermediary of the Ministry of Labour.
Nearly a hundred nurses threatened to lay off en masse in January. They demanded the resignation of their head of department and the end of forced overtime.
To bring the two parties closer together, Health Minister Christian Dubé appointed the Labor Ministry’s mediator, Lise Lavallée.
According to the report obtained by TVA Nouvelles, the imbalance between the needs of the population and the capacities of the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Ile-de-Montréal (CEMTL) explains the majority of nurse departures. For 27% of Montreal residents, the CEMTL has only 19% of the stretchers and 16% of the beds.
The mediator points out that the shortage of nurses is more acute in this CIUSSS. She explains it with the clinical pressure, but also with the impact of the pandemic, which has hit the east of the island more severely.
The nurses also complained about a toxic work environment in the emergency room. Ms. Lavallée therefore recommends that “a neutral and impartial third party” be commissioned to analyze the working atmosphere in the emergency room. It also calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to ease clinical pressure. In addition, ambulances were diverted to other emergencies to help staff.
“Without these measures, the other possible solutions will not make it possible to avoid further crises, since the demand for care and services is significantly greater than the capacity of the nurses currently working in the emergency rooms in the east of the island,” says Ms. Lavallée.