Wait times force 1 in 3 patients to leave Winnipeg's largest ER without seeing doctor: Shared Health

While increasing wait times continue to putpressure on Manitoba's health-care system, doctors say very sick people are leaving the emergency room withoutbeing seen by a physician at all.

More than one in every threepatients who recently sought medical care at the emergency department of Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre ended up leaving without seeing a doctor, according to recent data supplied by Shared Health.

"That's upsetting," Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Michael Boroditsky said when shown the data. "Obviouslyconcerning for me as a physician, and for the patients for sureeven more so."

According to the data, 13.1 per cent of those seeking medical attention in 2019 left without being seen by a physician.

During the same time period in 2023,that number skyrocketed to 34.1 per cent, meaning nearly one in three patients who presented and were triaged in the emergency room left without being seen by a doctor.

Those samerates worsened significantly at every hospital in Winnipeg over the past five years due to staffing and patient flow.

At St. Boniface Hospital, patients are leaving without seeing a doctor nearly 2.5 times more often than in 2019. At the Grace Hospital, it's happening nearly four times as often.

"This is unprecedented. I actually never dreamed it would be this high. It's a nightmare," said St. Boniface ER physician Dr. Alecs Chochinov said. "Ifanybody was waiting for the apocalypse to actually make changes,let them know it's here."

A patientleaving an emergency waiting roomwithout getting treatment could lead to a life-or-death situation, Boroditsky says.

"That would be my biggest concernthat someone who needed care didn't get it," he said. "We don't want to be an environment where people feel that they're rolling the dice whether they're going to be cared for."

Chochinov saidpatients may present with what may appear to be minor systems that turn out to be signs of significant health concerns.

"What's thought to be a minor headache can be a stroke or a bleed into one's head. The whole point of seeking care for new symptom is to have experts in the field look at you," he said.

The rate of patients who leave without getting care is a number doctors and health officials track closely, as it helps provide a sense of what is happening within the health-care system as a whole.

The current numbers showthe health-care system is not functioning well,Chochinov said.

While two per cent would be ideal, anything below five per cent is good, he said, butnumbershigher than 10 per cent presentthe risk of deadly outcomes.

"Numbers at 20 per cent and 30 per cent they're a recipe for disaster and those disasters are happening right now.

Strugglefortimely care

The Manitoba Nurses Union agrees the numbers are concerning,sayingwait times continue to plague the system.

"Patients get angry and they just leave," said MNU president Darlene Jackson, addinglong wait times can end in tragedy for patients who aren't seen fast enough.

Emergency department wait times as of 2:40p.m. Friday:

In February, a patient died while waiting for treatment in the crowded emergency departmentat HSC, where nurses said they were so overwhelmed they simply couldn't keep an eye on everyone all the time.

The man, who had been assessed and triaged, was awaiting care in a hallway all staffed beds were full.His condition worsened and he died shortly after.

Patients end up stuck in the emergency room because there are no beds available.

Jackson says it's also important to note that somepeople end up at hospitals because they have no where else to access health care.

"Ifyou are an individual in the core area and don't have access to a vehicle to get to Victoria Hospital, you go to HSC emergency that is where you go to be seen," Jackson said. "And if you're not emergent orurgent then you may wait hours and hours and hours to be seen."

A new treatment clinic for minor injuries opened at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre in August in an attemptto ease pressure on the emergency department and connect patients with less urgent needs to other sites at the hospital.

The $3-million projectis expected to see 22,000 patients each year, which is about four to six per hour or50 to 60 daily.

So far, 828 patients, or an average of about 15 patients a day,had been seen as of Oct.1.

Shared Health said the currentaverage median wait time in the new unit is just over 2 hours.

However, its operating hours have varied over its first two months, ranging from six to 12 hours a day because of staffing issues that Shared Health says it's working to scale up.

Critical staffing shortages

HSC chief operating officer Dr. Shawn Young saysthe health-care system is currently struggling and overwhelmed, and staffing continues to be the most critical issue.

He said the rate of patients leaving without seeing doctors is troublesome.

"We're struggling being able to get people the timely care that they need," Young said. "It's quite distressing for all of us, patients and our staff, to see so many patients leave without receiving care."

Young added it's possible the situation could get worse before it gets better.

"It's a place none of us want to be," Young said."None of us want to see it get worse. This is quite distressing for all of us."

However, staffing issues are not isolated to Manitoba or even Canada.

Recruitment teams are being "very aggressive" within the country and outside the country but there is competition worldwide, Young said.

While there has been funding in place to open more beds for some time, there is no staff to be able to open them. Youngsays he could hire 500 nurses tomorrow if they were available.

Young says patient flow continues to beachallenge not onlyin the emergency departments but one that cascades throughout all areas of care.

It remains a challenge moving patients to other units in the hospital from the emergency departmentbecause beds are occupied by patientswho are unable to get into alternate environments such as long term care,home care or other jurisdictions.

"Some pieces of this will be quicker to solve, but at the crux of this is the entire ladder of our health-care system is facing the worst staffing crisis it's ever faced," he said.

In a statement to CBC News, Health MinisterUzoma Asagwarasaid theirNDP government"was elected with a mandate to deliver better health care, starting with a plan to fix the staffing shortage crisis."

The "system is in desperate need of help" afteryears under a Progressive Conservative government, Asagwara said, and"these alarming patient volumes are just one sign of how extensive the damage is."

The new health minister added they hope to "restore Manitobans' trust in our health-care system."

WATCH | Wait times force 1 in 3 patients to leave Winnipeg's largest ER without seeing doctor: Shared Health:

Wait times force 1 in 3 patients to leave Winnipeg's largest ER without seeing doctor

12 months ago

Duration 2:59

While increasing wait times continue to put pressure on Manitoba's health-care system, doctors say very sick people are leaving the emergency room without being seen by a physician at all.