Here’s how long emergency room patients are waiting at local hospitals
The average Ontario emergency room patient waited a record-breaking two hours and six minutes to see a doctor in May of this year.
In Waterloo region, people waited even longer.
According to Health Quality Ontario, average wait times across the province increased from 1.9 hours in April to 2.1 hours in May.
Patients who were admitted to hospital spent an average of 20.1 hours in the ER before getting a bed in a ward.
Locally, emergency room patients at Cambridge Memorial Hospital waited an average of 2.9 hours to see a doctor in May. At Grand River Hospital, the average wait time was 2.7 hours, at St. Mary’s General it was 2 hours. That’s compared to 2.8 hours at Guelph General.
Several hospitals also publish real-time wait times on their websites:
WALK-IN CLINIC WAIT TIMES
According to Medimap, a Canadian tech company that posts walk-in clinic wait-times online, clinic wait times in Kitchener are roughly in line with the rest of the province, with most being around 20 minutes.
However, Medimap vice-president of operations Teddy Wickland says that’s “highly variable depending on when and where you’re searching” in the city.
Wickland said part of Medimap’s goal is to steer patients who could be better cared for in a walk-in clinic away from ERs.
“The type of patients who should go to the emergency room are having some type of very serious, generally acute issues, it could be kidney failure, it could be a gunshot wound,” Wickland said.
“Walk-in clinics are a great way for patients to still get on-demand care that’s more appropriate for things like the sniffles if you need a COVID test, something like that.”
Ultimately, however, Wickland says technology can’t solve the larger systemic issues behind long wait times, like healthcare staffing shortages.
“There is a family doctor shortage,” Wickland said. “The only thing that can solve for that – technology can help – but is frankly, is more people.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.