Patients admitted to hospital from ER waiting average of over 20 hours at some Waterloo region hospitals
The average time Ontario patients spend waiting in an emergency room before being admitted to hospital has climbed to a level not seen in the last year.
According to new data released by Health Quality Ontario, the average patient admitted to hospital from an emergency room in July waited 20.7 hours in the ER before getting a bed on a ward.
Just under a quarter of patients were admitted within the provincial target time of eight hours.
Average length of stay in emergency for patients admitted to hospital in Ontario from July 2021 to July 2020. (Health Quality Ontario)
In Waterloo region, patients waited the longest at Cambridge Memorial Hospital where the average time to be admitted to hospital from ER was 22 hours. At St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, it was 21 hours, while at Grand River Hospital it was 11.8 hours.
At Guelph General Hospital the average patient being admitted to hospital from the ER waited 17.9 hours.
The month of July was fraught with staffing shortages in the health-care sector. Overnight emergency room closures became routine at some rural hospitals, while other health networks issued urgent calls for volunteers to fill nursing shifts.
The closures prompted the provincial government to release a plan to stabilize the health-care system, which included spending on private clinic surgeries, a pledge to add up to 6,000 new health-care workers and speed up the approval process for international nurses, and Bill 7—legislation that will allow senior patients in hospital waiting to be placed in a long-term care home to be transferred to an alternative facility or face a daily $400 fee.
With files from CTV Toronto
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.