Montreal pediatric hotline reinstated for non-urgent care

The “One Call, One Appointment” pediatric hotline for Montrealers is set to return June 6.

It gives parents access to quickly obtain a medical appointment for their child who is ill, but whose condition does not require a visit to the emergency department.

The temporary offering was created last September to help reduce the strain on a pediatric system that was already overcapacity amid COVID-19.

It ended on March 31 as the regional department of general medicine felt the situation had stabilized and the service was no longer needed.

More than 45,000 appointments were made in just seven months with an average telephone wait time of just over two minutes.

But many parents and medical staff called for the hotline’s return, with some even launching a petition.

“We were not expecting this new surge of high demand in the pediatric hospitals, but it happened. So we are readjusting,” said Francine Dupuis, the Associate CEO of CIUSSS West-Central Montreal.

“The line was meant to be temporary to begin with. It was one of the different measures that was put in place during the pandemic, at the time when the pediatric emergencies were really like in a very dire situation. Emergencies are always overwhelming in a way, you know, there’s always too many patients. But it was worse than ever. So we decided to put the line on during the pandemic, and the situation improved a lot,” explained Dupuis.

Parents can call 514 890-6111 for non-urgent calls related to their children aged 16 years or less.

The line will be functional until an online service setup by the Quebec government will be in place.

“The decision to bring it back was because we were not ready to open the new central line. So we didn’t want to leave a void in between the month of June and perhaps the month of July or August. So, this is why, it’s because the number significantly increased in the emergency.”

But that service will only be available to those without a family doctor.