Quebec ER capacity rises in 13 of 15 reporting regions as prolonged stays climb

Emergency department capacity increased across most of Quebec's reporting regions during the week of October 12 to 18, 2026. Of the 15 regions with current-week data, 13 recorded a higher average capacity than during the previous Monday-to-Sunday period.

Across those regions, average ER capacity rose from 86.9% during October 5–11 to 91.7% during October 12–18, an increase of 4.8 percentage points.

The increase was geographically broad. Only Côte-Nord and Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine recorded lower average capacity than a week earlier.

Prolonged stays rose even faster

Measures of prolonged stays in emergency departments also moved upward.

The average reported number of patients present for more than 24 hours increased from approximately 5.4 to 6.3, a rise of about 17%.

For patients present for more than 48 hours, the average increased from approximately 2.0 to 2.6, or about 29%.

The change was also broad across the province. The more-than-24-hour measure increased in 13 of 15 reporting regions, while the more-than-48-hour measure rose in 12 regions, was essentially unchanged in one and declined in two.

These figures describe reported operational conditions in emergency departments. They do not establish the reasons for the changes or indicate clinical quality or safety.

Several regions posted larger weekly increases

Among the larger week-over-week changes in average ER capacity:

• Chaudière-Appalaches increased by 18.8 percentage points
• Bas-Saint-Laurent increased by 14.0 points
• Lanaudière increased by 13.8 points
• Nord-du-Québec increased by 10.2 points
• Montérégie increased by 9.5 points

Montréal also moved upward. Its average capacity increased from 133.5% to 136.8%, while its average reported number of patients present for more than 48 hours rose from 6.7 to 7.9.

Taken together, the results show that the weekly increase was spread across much of the reporting network rather than being driven by a single large region.

Comparable coverage from one week to the next

The comparison includes the same 107 reporting emergency department installations in both weeks, with 17,956 reporting observations from October 12–18 and 17,966 from October 5–11.

One important limitation is that Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Québec had no current-week records in the regional dataset. The figures in this article therefore represent the 15 regions with current-week data.

A comparison with the corresponding week in October 2025 was also reviewed, but differences in reporting coverage make the previous week the more directly comparable benchmark for this analysis.

Provincial figures were calculated from the regional weekly summaries and weighted by the number of reporting observations in each region.

The data describe reported ER capacity and patient presence and should not be interpreted as measures of care quality, clinical safety or individual patient outcomes.

This article is based on publicly reported healthcare data and is provided for informational purposes only.