P.E.I. tops Canada for ER walkouts

A sign for a hospital in Montreal, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

When Julie Charlebois’ husband Frank Peters was in an accident, the emergency department at Charlottetown’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital moved fast.

“Everyone is kind, caring, on top of it,” Charlebois said. “They take care of the patient and they take care of the family as well ... everything was handled with urgency ... he was a top priority.”

Thanks to that care, Peters is recovering well. But a recent report suggests others are waiting so long, they’re walking out before being treated.

The Montreal Economic Institute’s data, gathered through access-to-information requests, found that nearly 1.27 million patients across Canada left emergency rooms untreated in 2024. That’s about 7.8 per cent of all ER visits.

“This is a trend that is going up. Nationally, we’re seeing a 35 per cent increase,” said Renaud Brossard, the institute’s vice-president of communications.

On P.E.I., the rate was almost double the national average, at 14.15 per cent. Manitoba had the second highest rate, at 13.23 per cent, with New Brunswick just below that, at 12.85 per cent.

Across the country, patients are sorted into one of five levels on the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale when they arrive at an ER, based on the urgency of their condition. On the Island, most people who walked out without being seen were in levels three (urgent) or four (less urgent).

P.E.I.’s government lists level three cases as conditions with the potential to become serious, such as a head injury, a deep cut, or a foreign object in the eye or ear. Level four cases are non-life-threatening, such as back, arm or leg pain, ear infections, or requests for medication.

At Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the wait time for those levels can sometimes stretch beyond 10 hours.

“Nobody’s looking at ER wait times and thinking this is going to be a walk in the park,” Brossard said. “People go there because you don’t have access to other resources, either because they don’t have a family physician, or you can’t get an appointment with one.”

Statistics Canada data show P.E.I. has one of the highest rates of adults without a family doctor, at nearly 27 per cent.

However, Health PEI says the situation is improving. As of January, the proportion of people leaving without being seen dropped below 13 per cent.

“We’re encouraged by that,” said Ken Farion, medical director for hospital services and patient flow with Health PEI. “It’s because of the hard work of our staff in these departments and ongoing efforts to improve access to emergency and primary care.”

The health authority partly credits virtual care initiatives and Pharmacy Plus, which allows pharmacists to prescribe or renew certain medications. But it acknowledges limited walk-in clinics and ongoing staffing shortages remain significant challenges across the province.