Average ER wait times in Ontario reaches new high, data shows
Average wait times for patients being admitted to an Ontario hospital from an emergency room appear to be steadily increasing, with a new record reached in October.
New data released by Health Quality Ontario (HQO) on Thursday shows patients spent an average of 22.9 hours in an emergency room that month waiting to be admitted.
This is up from 21.3 hours in September and 20.7 hours in August. It also represents the highest average wait time for hospital admissions from Ontario ERs in the last year.
According to the HQO, just 21 per cent of patients were admitted from the ER within the provincial target of eight hours.
For patients not being admitted to hospital, wait times were significantly more manageable. On average, about 88 per cent of high-urgency patients left the emergency room within eight hours and 72 per cent of low-urgency patients finished their visit within the target time of four hours.
On average, the HQO says patients waited about 2.2 hours in an emergency room for their first assessment by a doctor.
The data comes weeks after five of Ontario’s largest health care unions issued an appeal to the Doug Ford government, saying the government’s current plan to address the overburdened health-care system is "failing miserably."
Health Quality Ontario data shows the average ER wait times for patients being admitted in the last year.
The Progressive Conservative government released their plan to stabilize the health-care system in August. Their strategy includes an investment in private clinic surgeries, a pledge to add up to 6,000 new health-care workers and Bill 7—legislation that allows hospitals to transfer patients waiting for a long-term care home spot to a home not of their choosing or serve them a daily $400 fee.
The goal, the government said, is to free up beds in acute care for those who needed it.
However, months after the plan was announced, patients and front-line workers are still reporting long wait times and a lack of beds. Many hospitals have also said they are operating over capacity in part due to the triple threat of influenza, COVID-19 and RSV this fall.
Last month, Liberal MPP Dr. Adil Shamji told reporters that September 2022 was the worst on record for hospital wait times, “extending all the way back to 2008.”
“No matter how you look at this data, whether it month over month, or a year over a year, health-care performance is continuing its dramatic nosedive and unfortunately is now in freefall,” he said at the time.
An Ontario Health report showed that in September, an average of about 949 patients were waiting for a hospital bed in an emergency room at 8 a.m. daily.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones has previously said that long wait times in hospital emergency rooms “are not new issues and not new problems.” The PCs have repeatedly said the issues with the province’s health care stem from before they were elected in 2018 and that their government is “not okay with the status quo.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the minister told CTV News Toronto they are taking a "team Ontario approach" to the problem, including increasing hospital capacity by adding 3,500 new hospital beds.
“We know emergency department volumes have been increasing year over year and we are not okay with the status quo," they wrote.
"We have also worked with pediatric hospitals to ramp up their capacity where possible"
The Ontario NDP has expressed concern for the health-care system heading into the winter months.
"They expect more people to get sick, more demands on their services, more children to get sick, more demands on pediatric care," NDP MPP and Health Critic France Gélinas said. "It is taking a toll on all of us."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
BREAKING Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
WATCH LIVE As GC Strategies partner is admonished by MPs, RCMP confirms search warrant executed
The RCMP confirmed Wednesday it had executed a search warrant at an address registered to GC Strategies. This development comes as MPs are enacting an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power, summoning one of its contractors to appear before the House of Commons to be admonished publicly for failing to answer questions related to the ArriveCan app.
Disappointment widespread over budget's proposed $200-month disability benefit funding
Advocacy groups across Canada are expressing widespread disappointment about the amount of funding earmarked in the 2024 federal budget for the long-awaited Canada Disability Benefit.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
Former Sask. massage therapist who sexually assaulted clients has day parole revoked
A former massage therapist who pleaded guilty to a string of sexual assaults has had his day parole revoked.