Average ER wait times in Winnipeg hit another record high

Winnipeg — Winnipeggers waited more than 2.5 hours on average in the city’s emergency rooms and urgent care departments in August, according to numbers from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA).

It’s the highest monthly average the city has seen in the last seven years—breaking the record set in July.

The WRHA’s monthly report shows a citywide average wait time of 2.57 hours, which is a slight uptick from 2.53 hours in the previous month and nearly an hour longer than August 2020.

St. Boniface Hospital and Grace Hospital both reported averages of more than three hours for the second month in a row, while Health Sciences Centre (HSC) dropped below the three-hour threshold.

However, some patients at HSC waited nearly 9.5 hours to receive care.

In a statement, the WRHA said emergency departments and urgent care centres have experienced a number of changes in recent weeks including issues in accessing hospital in-patient capacity, staffing challenges, pandemic-related staff redeployment, and COVID-related processes.

The statement states wait times are the most pressing issue the region is facing and the WRHA is working to stabilize staffing and improve in-patient capacity to ensure timely access to care.

“Staffing in emergency and urgent care departments over the past several months has been affected by various factors, including the loss of some nurses who left to provide support to the critical care program, COVID-19 testing sites, and vaccination efforts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement said.

“Staffing is currently being augmented by the use of agency nurses, overtime, and the efforts of managers, directors and nurse educators who have stepped up to work frontline shifts, and who support their teams to ensure safe and efficient patient flow.”

The statement said the WRHA is focusing on regionwide coordination to assist ER and urgent care departments in need of staff to fill shifts, as well as identifying nurses qualified to work in certain ER and urgent care roles with additional training. The WRHA is also working to improve in-patient capacity by implementing surge protocols, utilizing temporary and off-service beds, and working to transition hospital in-patients to long-term care and community environments.

In a statement, the Manitoba NDP said ER wait times are “another sign the city’s health care system is at breaking point, and a direct result of the PC government’s millions in health care cuts.”

On Friday, Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew said health care cuts have created a staffing crisis in the city’s emergency rooms, and with an impending fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic looming, it’s important to limit ER wait times.

“We’ve been in a pandemic long enough to expect that our government could fix the relationship with nurses, hire people to work in our health care system, and ensure every Manitoban has access to emergency care when they need it,” Kinew said.