Quebec’s operating rooms are left empty almost half of the time while 20,000 Quebecers are waiting longer than six months for surgical intervention, according to data compiled by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ).
Health Minister Gaétan Barrette immediately challenged the figures put forward by François Paradis, the CAQ health critic, arguing the occupancy rate of Quebec’s ORs is closer to 77 per cent than the 53 per cent asserted by Paradis.
The CAQ based its calculations on European standards rather than Quebec ones and on the wrong number of operating rooms, Barrette said. He noted Paradis based his calculation on operating rooms being used 10 hours a day and four hours on Saturday, but said those standards are inapplicable in Quebec since such long shifts do not exist here.
“That’s not a norm used by ministry of health and social services,” Barrette said.
The CAQ got the data it compiled from Robert Salois, the Commissioner for Health and Welfare. The statistics unveiled Monday morning show the occupancy of operating rooms ranging from 29 to 65 per cent, depending on the region, during the hours they operate. In the Montreal region, for example, the occupancy rate is 57 per cent while on the North Shore it’s 32 per cent, according to the CAQ figures.
Paradis announced the findings at a morning news conference in front of the Hôpital de Saint-Jérôme, where some 200 patients have been waiting for surgery for more than six months.
Barrette further noted an error in the number of operating rooms that the CAQ used in its calculation, saying they included 61 operating rooms that are closed due to obsolescence, as well as using the same calculation for operating rooms in areas outside urban centres, which cannot be used at the same pace.
The occupancy rate of urban operating rooms is 90 per cent, according to the minister of health.
Paradis said an occupation rate of 53 per cent is “extremely disturbing,” especially considering that the problem is widespread in all regions of Quebec.
Barrette also said it’s normal that operating rooms are not accessible 52 weeks a year, given summer holidays, and that that was a factor not taken into account by the CAQ.
Paradis told Presse Canadienne the lack of resources for medical specialists was part of the problem; they want to perform these operations but do not have adequate access to operating rooms.
The CAQ recalled that in 2012, the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec (FMOQ) — then represented by Barrette — had sounded the alarm and denounced the lack of access to ORs.
“I think people need to know why they wait,” said Paradis. “If you pass an operating room of a health facility, half the time the light is closed and the door is locked.”
At present, no Quebec region reached the goal of 75 per cent set by the Commissioner for Health and Well-Being, according to figures from the CAQ.
Here are the utilization rates of operating rooms compiled by the CAQ, by region:
- Abitibi-Témiscamingue 29 per cent
- Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine 31 per cent
- North Shore 32 per cent
- Bas-Saint-Laurent 40 per cent
- Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean 42 per cent
- Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec 51 per cent
- Estrie 52 per cent
- Chaudière-Appalaches 54 per cent
- Lanaudière 54 per cent
- Laurentides 54 per cent
- Montérégie 55 per cent
- Outaouais 57 per cent
- Montreal 57 per cent
- Laval 64 per cent
- Capitale-Nationale 65 per cent
