Packed hallways, standing room only at Winnipeg ERs as wait times climb
Longest waits for patients at Grace, St. Boniface stretched past 14 hours in November, health authority says
Emergency department wait times have risen over the past six months, new numbers from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Shared Health show, leading to rescheduled elective surgeries and some patients leaving ERs without being treated.
Stacey Carriere is among those who eventually left. She was taken by ambulance to the St. Boniface Hospital ER on the morning of Jan. 10, after her six-year-old daughter found her unconscious in her home and called 911.
When she was brought in on a stretcher, "the hallways were packed," she said.
"I waited in the hallway … to me it seemed like forever, but it was probably about 45 minutes before I was even triaged by the paramedics.
"And then it was probably about another half an hour, and they gave me an EKG and then I sat there for about 16 hours" before leaving, she said.
Ten per cent of patients at the St. Boniface and Grace Hospital ERs waited more than 14 hours for care in November 2023, according to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
In June, that number — known as the 90th percentile wait time — was just over seven hours at the Grace and and just over eight at St. Boniface.
At Health Sciences Centre, the number grew from 11.4 hours last July 2023 to 13.8 hours in November, according to Shared Health.
Dr. Joss Reimer, chief medical officer for the WRHA, said the waits are too long.
"Nobody should be waiting 14 hours to be seen in an emergency room. You're going there because you need urgent care," Reimer said.
"Right now I just want to see [those numbers] getting better. I want to know that we're improving numbers."
Reimer said the respiratory virus season is driving up hospital admissions. That, combined with staff shortages, is leading to longer waits in ERs, she said.
Staff are coming in on days off and working overtime, said Reimer. Care options beyond emergency rooms, such as walk-in Connected Care clinics and the Pan-Am Minor Injury Clinic are also being expanded, she said.
Lower-acuity patients in ERs are given information about other care options, a health authority spokesperson said, and there are staff in waiting rooms to monitor and reassess patients.
Reimer also pointed to work to bolster home care to get people out of hospital faster and a recent move to hire more allied health professionals so hospitals can discharge patients who need extra support seven days a week instead of five.
As "a last resort … we have had to reschedule some of our elective procedures," Reimer said.
"And that's really heartbreaking to watch, because this is people who often are dealing with chronic pain and are looking forward to the surgery to be able to get back to life as normal."
Surgery cancelled after pre-op tests
After undergoing pre-op tests on Jan. 12 ahead of a hip replacement scheduled for Jan. 20 at Grace Hospital, Winnipeg resident John Thompson went home to bad news — a phone call informing him his surgery was being postponed due to the strain on emergency rooms.
"It was so close," Thompson said.
"I'm not blaming anyone," he said. "It's just frustrating."
The 44-year-old father said he's in constant pain, which is affecting his ability to do basic tasks without help.
"I need walking aids," he said. "I have three children so it's hard."
He waited a year to see a specialist and another five months for his surgery to be scheduled. He doesn't have a new date yet but hopes it'll be soon.
Reimer said she hopes as respiratory virus numbers decrease, hospitals can stop postponing surgeries.
Those numbers are now plateauing, she said, "so hopefully we'll be able to get out of this rescheduling in the very near future and back to providing that regular care to people who need it."
Reimer stressed that while the long waits are frustrating, the last thing health-care providers want to see is patients who need help leaving the ER.
"If you need emergency care, we want you to come to our emergency rooms," she said.
Stacey Carriere said she left the ER after her 16-hour wait when a nurse warned her it could continue, and suggested she go home and book an appointment with her family doctor.
Other people in the ER that same day had been waiting even longer, Carriere said. It was so packed people waiting for care were left with nowhere to sit.
"That blew my mind … that people were standing in the emergency room to get help," she said.
She's still seeing doctors to determine what caused her to pass out in the first place, but is grateful and proud her six-year-old daughter knew to call for help.
She's not feeling as confident in the health-care system's capacity to help, though.
"When you go there and you see all of these people and they're all suffering, and there's just not enough people, there's not enough manpower, there's not enough beds … it's just madness," she said.
"It's sad, actually."
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With files from Alana Cole