Emergency department wait times on the rise

Longest visits in Canada are in Quebec, Manitoba, health institute reports

Canadians are waiting longer to receive emergency medical care, according to new figures from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), with patients in Quebec and Manitoba enduring the longest emergency room visits in the country.

CIHI’s National Ambulatory Care Reporting System numbers for 2018-19 show that patients in Canada spent a median of 3.2 hours in emergency departments per visit. But for 90 per cent of those visits, patients were there for 10.9 hours. In 2017-18, the median time stood at 2.8 hours, while for 90 per cent of visits, it was 7.9 hours.

“What we’re seeing with reports this year is consistent with the previous years … a continual rising trend in emergency wait times across the country for most provinces and territories,” Nick Gnidziejko, manager, clinical administrative databases operations, with CIHI, said in a phone interview.

Gnidziejko noted that patients admitted to a hospital after accessing emergency department services are also waiting longer. On average, he said nine out of 10 emergency department visits are completed in about10 hours, however, those patients who then have to be admitted to the hospital are spending up to 35 hours in the emergency department. The CIHI numbers show considerable variation in wait times across the provinces and territories, with Yukon posting the lowest median time at 1.8 hours, while Quebec had the longest at 4.6 hours, with Manitoba second at 4.1 hours. But when it comes to 90 per cent of emergency visits, the median emergency department visit in Quebec lasts 18.1 hours, compared to 13.4 hours in Manitoba and 5.2 hours in the Yukon.

All numbers for Manitoba come from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, the only health authority that submitted data.

In Ontario, which had the third-lowest wait times, the median time for a visit was 2.9 hours, and for 90 per cent of visits, it was 8.7 hours.