A recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has revealed alarming statistics regarding wait times in emergency departments (EDs) across Canada, with one in ten patients enduring waits exceeding 14 hours for care. This troubling situation is exacerbated for those requiring hospital admission, who are frequently left waiting over three times longer than their counterparts. The findings highlight systemic pressures within the healthcare framework, underscoring an urgent need for reform.
Rising Wait Times: A National Crisis
The CIHI report, which covers data from the years 2024 to 2025, indicates a significant increase in wait times compared to previous years. Approximately 1.5 million patients, equating to 10 per cent of all ED visits, faced waits lasting more than 14 hours. This marks a staggering 28 per cent rise from figures recorded in 2018-19.
Moreover, about 12 per cent of all emergency visits during this period resulted in hospital admissions. Of these, one in ten patients spent over two days in the ED before being moved to an inpatient unit, reflecting a 33 per cent increase from prior years. The findings reveal that the patient demographics are shifting, with an increasing number of older individuals suffering from more complex medical conditions seeking emergency care.
Voices from the Frontline
Dr. Michael Herman, an emergency physician based in Ottawa, emphasised that these statistics corroborate the experiences of healthcare professionals who have long been grappling with the growing pressures within EDs. “What it’s showing us is that we have a sicker population, more people are coming to us, they have less access to supports in the community, and they’re staying in our emergency departments longer,” Dr. Herman explained.
This narrative is echoed by physicians throughout the country who have raised concerns about overcrowded emergency departments—a situation worsened by systemic issues like insufficient funding and staffing shortages. The summer months often see a spike in these challenges, leading to temporary closures of EDs in rural regions as healthcare workers take much-needed leave.
A Call to Action After Tragedy
The urgency of addressing ED overcrowding was highlighted earlier this year following the tragic death of Prashant Sreekumar in Edmonton. He succumbed to cardiac arrest after enduring an eight-hour wait in the emergency department. In response, both medical professionals and the provincial New Democratic Party urged the government to declare a state of emergency regarding the situation in EDs.
According to the CIHI report, 0.1 per cent of patients died while waiting for treatment, and 7.7 per cent opted to leave the ED without seeing a physician. The data recorded roughly 16.1 million ED visits in the 2024-25 fiscal year, accounting for about 89 per cent of all emergency visits in Canada. Alarmingly, two-thirds of these visits were classified as high-acuity, indicating critical, life-threatening conditions.
Children under ten, individuals over 55, and residents of low-income areas were identified as the most frequent users of emergency services, pointing to a need for targeted healthcare strategies.
The Vulnerability of Older Patients
One particularly concerning finding in the report is that older patients are facing longer wait times for inpatient beds compared to their younger counterparts. Many elderly patients enter the system with multiple health issues or specific isolation requirements, necessitating additional wait times for suitable placements. Dr. Herman noted that for patients aged over 75, even a single night spent in an ED significantly increases mortality risk.
He referenced a UK study indicating that for every 82 patients who wait six to eight hours for an inpatient bed, one additional death occurs. “This isn’t just an inconvenience; this is lethal,” Dr. Herman warned, highlighting the dire consequences of the current system.
Addressing the Underlying Issues
The report also highlighted that patients admitted from EDs typically have a median hospital stay of four days. However, eight per cent of those patients were classified as alternative level of care (ALC) patients—individuals who no longer need hospitalisation yet occupy beds due to the lack of appropriate transitional care solutions. ALC patients had a median stay of 24 days, further straining bed availability for those needing immediate admission.
Cheryl Chui, CIHI’s director of health system analytics, stressed that merely focusing on ED wait times will not resolve the crisis. “If you just focus on ED wait times, then that tends to be where people sort of target the solution. But what we’re trying to illustrate with this report is that, actually, everything is interconnected,” she noted, calling for a holistic approach to healthcare reform.
Why it Matters
The findings from the CIHI report serve as a clarion call for urgent action in Canada’s healthcare system. As demographics shift and the complexity of patient needs increases, the current model is clearly unsustainable. Overcrowding in emergency departments poses severe risks not only to patient safety but also to the overall effectiveness of the healthcare system. Addressing these systemic issues is critical to ensure that Canadians receive timely and appropriate medical care, safeguarding health outcomes for the most vulnerable populations.