Documents shed light on stalled request for new Lakeshore ER
CBC
The Quebec government was made aware of an array of problems at the Lakeshore General Hospital emergency room in Montreal's West Island prior to the pandemic but failed to move quickly to address them, documents show.
Government memos obtained by CBC News under access-to-information legislation offer details about how the health authority sought to upgrade the ER, which had been promised improvements in 2018.
In a memo the following year, in 2019, a top official at the province's Health Ministry acknowledged the ER space was inadequate — and situated within what was supposed to be a temporary expansion constructed in 1988.
"The physical layout of the emergency room does not correspond to current standards and is summed up by a general lack of space, problems with the functionality of the work environment which affect the quality of care and the safety of the clientele," then-assistant deputy minister Dr. Lucie Opatrny wrote in the memo.
Opatrny's memo, addressed to another assistant deputy minister, was written in response to a request by the regional health authority, the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, for an "expansion and refurbishment project."
The hospital has been the subject of complaints by patients and staff during the pandemic, with a recent report warning the ER is a "ticking time bomb."
This week, the union sent a letter to Health Minister Christian Dubé calling for more resources.
In the document, Opatrny lists a number of issues at the ER that had been flagged by the CIUSSS, including:
Opatrny also notes that some beds were not visible to supervising staff.
Staff at the hospital say that issue has still not been addressed and that Emmanuel Maccarine, a woman found dead on the ER floor in 2021, was in a room difficult to monitor from afar.
Opatrny concludes the memo by saying several of the health authority's proposals need to be reconsidered, citing certain constraints of the building, and that her office would be open to working on an updated plan.
The plan to replace Lakeshore's ER has been mired in the "study phase" since 2018, when the Liberal government set aside $1.5 million for that purpose leading up to the provincial election.
In June 2018, Gaétan Barrette, who was health minister at the time, sent a letter to the head of the health authority giving the go-ahead to study the project.
It has not moved forward under the Coalition Avénir Québec government.