SASK. ER WAITS MAY BE SOME OF LONGEST

Report says only Manitoba had longer

PAMELA COWAN REGINA — It appears Saskatchewan’s big city emergency rooms had some of the longest wait times in Canada in 2012-13.

Half of the patients who visited ERs at Regina’s two hospitals and Saskatoon’s three hospitals spent 3.2 hours or less there — from the time they registered until the time they left. Nine out of 10 patients waited 9.8 hours or less, according to a report released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

Only Manitoba hospitals had longer waits, with half of ER patients spending 3.7 hours or less in the emergency department. Nine out of 10 patients waited 12.3 hours or less.

Nationally, half of all Canadians who visited an ER spent 2.4 hours or less there. Nine out of 10 patients spent 7.4 hours or less.

But measuring the pulse of emergency departments across the country is difficult when not all hospitals provide their vital signs to the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS).

That’s why Agnita Pal, manager of clinical administrative database operations with CIHI, urges caution when comparing provincial wait times.

Pal notes the Regina General, Pasqua, Saskatoon City, St. Paul’s and Royal University hospitals were the only Saskatchewan facilities to report their ER statistics. About 212,164 patients went to those ERs, accounting for 43 per cent of emergency room visits in the province.

“These facilities are showing that the time most people are spending in the EDs fits within the national targets recommended by the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians,” Pal said.

According to the report, the amount of time a person waits in an emergency department depends on the type of hospital they visit. Waits in large and teaching hospitals are often longer than those in small and medium-sized hospitals.

The five Saskatchewan hospitals fall into the teaching hospital category.

Until recently, Regina hospitals had more patients waiting in emergency rooms than there were hospital beds. That problem is slowly being resolved, resulting in shorter ER waits.

The top three reasons Saskatchewan residents sought emergency medical attention in 2012-13 were abdominal/ pelvic pain, throat and chest pain and “other medical care,” which includes chemotherapy sessions, blood transfusions and palliative care.