The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) says the nation's hospital emergency rooms are in crisis "and patients across Canada are waiting far too long to receive necessary care."
The CMA says it's not just one hospital or community but a Canada-wide issue that needs to be addressed so that quick access to high-quality, team-based primary care becomes the norm.
The information was part of a recent statement by CMA president Dr. Kathleen Ross, who said despite the best efforts of physicians, nurses and other health workers, some patients in Canada are waiting as long as 20 hours to get care.
"Staff shortages and hospital overcrowding combined with poor access to high-quality team-based primary care are leaving hospital emergency departments woefully under-resourced for the avalanche of patients with influenza, COVID-19 or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) at this time of year," said Ross in a written statement.
She added that hospital ERs should be for emergencies and not a substitute for a walk-in clinic or a missed doctor's appointment.
Ross's comments are similar to the Ontario Auditor General's report on the state of Ontario hospital emergency rooms issued in December.
The auditor's report noted that ERs were facing a crisis because of the shortage of doctors and nurses which meant there was an unusually high demand for Locums (temporary fill-in physicians) at hospitals across Northern Ontario.
The auditor's report also published statistics (2022-23) on the time it took for an Ontario patient to be seen by a physician in the ER, with the South Bruce Grey Health Centre (Chesley) having the best time of roughly 35 minutes, while the Windsor Regional Hospital (Metropolitan campus) had the longest time of four hours and five minutes.
Sudbury's Health Sciences North (HSN) was in the middle with a wait time of two hours, five minutes.
HSN has posted extensive information on the Health Sciences North webpage, providing information for patients who consider visiting the emergency room.
The HSN website said all visitors to the emergency department will be interviewed for their reasons for visiting and will then undergo the triage process.
"Every effort will be made to assess you within 15 minutes of your arrival," said the website.
The triage process involves a nurse asking information on your injury or illness, assessing your condition and beginning any appropriate medical tests that might be needed. Patients should bring a list of their medications and allergies if they have any.
Once the triage process is done, patients will wait their turn to be seen by a physician, said HSN. This is a key issue because some patients have been confused about wait times when a newer patient is allowed to get treatment before them.
Unlike walk-in clinics, emergency rooms are set up to see emergency cases and will accommodate the most urgent cases first.
A YouTube video posted on the HSN website said the ER "is not a first come, first serve place.” It said the job of the medical staff is to treat any case that is life-threatening as quickly as possible.
"The Emergency Department may appear quiet in the waiting room, but it may be very busy in the area where patients are being treated. We do our best to care for you as quickly as possible. Your co-operation helps us provide more timely care," said the website.
It also said that treatment in the ER "may take several hours" and would depend on such factors as whether the patient needs medical tests, whether further treatment requires immediate test results and whether the ER physician needs to consult a specialist.
The HSN website further advised that "you have other choices," a clear reference that many of the people who go to the emergency room do not need emergency care.
“Residents of the City of Greater Sudbury and its surrounding area are encouraged to consider alternative health-care choices in the city for treatment of non-urgent medical conditions," said the website, which listed no less than 14 walk-in clinics and other health centres where patients can get attention for less urgent problems.
Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.
