News
Weekly ER Capacity Report — Quebec — July 20 to July 26, 2026
Quebec’s provincial average emergency department capacity declined from the preceding week but remained slightly above the level reported during the same dates in 2025. Prolonged-stay indicators followed a similar pattern, decreasing week over week while remaining higher year over year.
Key Metrics
Provincial average emergency department capacity: 79.3%
Previous week: 80.7%
Same dates in 2025: 78.9%
Average patients waiting more than 24 hours: 4.3
Average patients waiting more than 48 hours: 1.6
Highest capacity reading during the week: 300%
Provincial averages are rounded to one decimal place.
Time Window
The current analysis covers July 20 to July 26, 2026.
It is compared with the immediately preceding week, July 13 to July 19, 2026, and the same calendar dates one year earlier, July 20 to July 26, 2025.
Provincial Overview
Emergency departments across the reporting regions of Quebec recorded an average capacity of 79.3% during the week ending July 26. This was 1.4 percentage points lower than the previous week’s average of 80.7%.
Compared with the same dates in 2025, when average capacity was 78.9%, the current result was 0.4 percentage points higher.
Indicators associated with prolonged emergency department stays also decreased from the preceding week. The average number of patients waiting more than 24 hours declined from 4.8 to 4.3, while the average waiting more than 48 hours declined from 1.8 to 1.6.
Both measures remained above their year-earlier levels. During July 20 to July 26, 2025, reporting facilities averaged 3.8 patients waiting more than 24 hours and 1.1 patients waiting more than 48 hours.
Taken together, the figures show lower reported operational load than in the immediately preceding week, alongside slightly higher capacity and prolonged-stay averages than during the year-earlier period.
Week-Over-Week Change
Comparing July 20–26 with July 13–19 shows a moderate provincial decline in average capacity and prolonged stays.
Several regions recorded notable decreases in average capacity. Lanaudière declined from 111.8% to 92.4%, a change of 19.4 percentage points. Côte-Nord declined from 77.7% to 67.8%, a change of 9.9 percentage points.
Bas-Saint-Laurent declined from 58.1% to 52.6%, while Laurentides declined from 128.8% to 123.4%.
Other regions moved in the opposite direction. Nord-du-Québec increased from 16.0% to 26.8%, and Abitibi-Témiscamingue increased from 47.0% to 53.9%.
These movements describe short-term variation in reported operational load and do not, by themselves, indicate longer-term structural changes.
Regional Standouts
Lower Capacity Than One Year Earlier
Among regions with comparable facility coverage, Abitibi-Témiscamingue recorded the largest year-over-year decline. Its average capacity decreased from 64.5% to 53.9%, a reduction of 10.6 percentage points.
Capitale-Nationale declined from 72.0% to 66.2%, a reduction of 5.8 percentage points. Its average number of patients waiting more than 24 hours also declined from 2.1 to 1.4, while the average waiting more than 48 hours declined from 0.7 to 0.3.
Estrie recorded a reduction of 4.2 percentage points, from 73.1% to 68.9%.
Higher Capacity Than One Year Earlier
Among regions with unchanged facility counts, Laval recorded the largest increase, rising from 137.0% to 150.0%, a change of 13.0 percentage points. Its prolonged-stay indicators nevertheless declined slightly, illustrating a mixed pattern across the measures.
Laurentides increased from 112.0% to 123.4%, a change of 11.4 percentage points. Its average number of patients waiting more than 24 hours rose from 6.0 to 8.0, while the average waiting more than 48 hours increased from 1.8 to 2.2.
Montérégie increased from 110.5% to 119.4%, a change of 8.9 percentage points.
Montréal increased from 101.3% to 113.8%, but the number of reporting facilities changed from 21 in 2025 to 17 in 2026. That difference in coverage limits direct interpretation of the regional change.
Data Coverage
The current week includes 15 administrative health regions, 107 reporting emergency department facilities and 17,538 individual readings.
The preceding week includes the same 15 regions and 107 facilities, with 17,851 readings.
The year-earlier period includes 15 regions, 114 facilities and 12,428 readings.
Across all three periods, the analysis covers 47,817 records.
All available records for the reporting scope were included, with no sampling. However, year-over-year geographic coverage is only partially comparable.
Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Québec reported data during the 2025 comparison period but had no records in either analyzed 2026 week. Nord-du-Québec reported during both 2026 weeks but had no records in the 2025 comparison period.
As a result, 14 regions had data in both the current and year-earlier periods. Provincial year-over-year figures include every available record in each period, but part of the difference may reflect the changed reporting mix.
Methodology
Provincial results were calculated as record-weighted means across all reporting regions and facilities. Regions with more individual readings therefore contributed proportionately more to the provincial averages.
Capacity readings of 0% were retained in all calculations, but are not itemized in this report.
Average capacity and prolonged-stay measures were rounded to one decimal place. Regional comparisons use the reported regional averages for each period. The weekly maximum represents the highest individual capacity reading recorded during the current period and was separately verified against the underlying readings.
Capacity percentages and prolonged-stay counts describe reported emergency department operational load only. They should not be interpreted as measures of clinical quality or safety.
Informational Use Statement
This summary is based on publicly reported emergency department data and is provided for informational purposes only.