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Report: 180K Canadians Wait in Emergency Room Visits for Over 48 hours
The report says shortages in hospital, long-term and home care are backing up admissions and leaving 1.5 million patients waiting over 14 hours.
- One in 10 Canadians admitted to hospital last fiscal year spent more than 48 hours waiting in the emergency department, a 12-hour increase since 2018-2019, according to a Thursday report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
- Upstream stressors including an aging population, limited long-term care capacity, and lack of timely access to family doctors force patients to rely on emergency rooms for longitudinal care, according to CIHI director of health systems analytics Cheryl Chui.
- Ottawa emergency physician Dr. Michael Herman warned that for the 180,000 patients waiting over two days for an inpatient bed, studies suggest 2,195 attributable deaths could occur, describing the situation as "lethal."
- Refuting the "zombie myth that refuses to die" that minor complaints drive delays, two-thirds of emergency visits are now triaged as "high acuity," requiring rapid medical attention for severe, life-threatening conditions.
- Canada maintained one of the lowest hospital beds per capita among 32 OECD countries in 2023, limiting surge capacity, while Herman insists that solving systemic backlogs requires comprehensive policy intervention.
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What a new report reveals about the true cause of Canada’s massive emergency wait times
A new report suggests the causes of Canada’s long emergency department wait times often lie far beyond the emergency room itself, with shortages in hospital beds, long-term care and community supports creating a bottleneck that is leaving some patients waiting days for care.
·Canada
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The wait times in emergency services across the country are increased by the lack of available places in long-term care facilities and home care programmes, according to a new report.
·Montreal, Canada
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The Toronto StarReposted by 
St Catharines Standard
St Catharines StandardCanada’s emergency departments are in worse shape than before the pandemic. This is how bad it’s gotten
An analysis by CIHI found that one in 10 patients who required admission to hospital last year were forced to wait more than two days in Emergency.
·Toronto, Canada
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources17
Leaning Left7Leaning Right2Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Left
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Left
50% Left
L 50%
C 36%
14%
Factuality
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