A new study comparing national emergency room wait times over the past five years found B.C.'s to be middle of the pack overall, but still on the rise year-over-year.
The report from MEI, a think tank based in Alberta and Quebec, found that on average, the median time spent in the ER in B.C. last year was 4 hours and 13 minutes, up 14 minutes from the previous year and 1 hour and 1 minute longer than in 2020.
The longest time spent in ER's Candawide was in Quebec at 5 hours and 23 minutes, and the shortest was in Newfoundland and Labrador at 2 hours and 45 minutes.
"I think this speaks largely to the bigger context of the global shortage of healthcare workers that we're experiencing," B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said on Tuesday, June 3, the day the report was released.
The longest stays in B.C. were at Provincial Health Services-operated facilities, followed by Island Health and Fraser Health facilities.
The worst of these were Victoria General Hospital and Abbotsford Regional Hospital, which were tied at 6 hours and 36 minutes each. Victoria's Royal Jubilee Hospital was not far behind, with a 6 hour and 18 minute average stay.
Researchers also collected data on how long it took patients to see a doctor once registered, again finding Victoria General and Abbotsford tied at the bottom of the list. It took patients on average 3 hours and 18 minutes to see a doctor.
In B.C. overall, the median average was 1 hour and 50 minutes to see a doctor. The longest waits in Canada were in Prince Edward Island at 2 hours and 58 minutes, while the shortest was in Ontario and Alberta, tied for an hour and a half.
Osborne highlighted work her ministry is doing to attract more workers, such as U.S. recruitment efforts, and attempts to fill the gaps in care by creating and expanding urgent and primary care centres (UPCCs). She also pointed out that cases in emergency rooms are seen based on severity.
"There's a triage system in place to ensure that those most urgent cases are seen first," she said.
MEI is advocating for an approach that provides services slightly more intensive than what is offered by UPCCs, which would include lab work and X-rays on-site.
