Unreasonable Emergency Room Wait Times

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I live in Brockville, Ontario. Yesterday, while waiting for the bus I met a man with an injured knee. He'd been waiting since 10 AM, and was fed up. The man pointed to the hospital with frustration, "Don't go there."

Out of curiosity, I asked, "Why?"

He ranted on about how long he'd been waiting, and that there was someone else who'd been waiting for 16 hours. That is simply unbelievable.

The man went to see his doctor, and was told that he needed x'rays, and that he had two choices. He could visit emergency, or wait to get the x-ray. He decided to go to emergency. That was the wrong choice.

Whenever I have gone to emergency, I've always expected a wait time of between 3 to 6 hours. 3 to 6 hours is normal. You have to expect that. The government is footing the bill. Depending on the nature of your injury, you may be first in line, or last in line.

When is the wait time unacceptable? After hearing the man say that someone had been waiting for 16 hours, is unbelievable. That is what prompted me to write this blog.

If you visit the sit by the Ministry of Health and Long-term care, there is actually a tool that will give you the average wait time in the emergency room. Just visit the page entitled, Ontario Wait Times.

This tool will give you an idea on how long you will have to wait. Wait times are classified according to complex conditions, minor or uncomplicated conditions, complex conditions, and minor or uncomplicated conditions.

Based on the month of October, these are the statistics taken from the Ministry of Health website;

Total Time Spent in Emergency Room
Average Wait Time

• Complex conditions
  (Hours) 4.5
• Minor or uncomplicated
  conditions
  (Hours) 2.7

Total Time Spent in Emergency Room
[9 out of 10 patients]

• Complex conditions
  (Hours) 8.4
• Minor or uncomplicated
  conditions
  (Hours) 5.1

Based on province wide emergency room wait times (9 out of 10 patients), the wait times for complex conditions for the month of October were 11.2 hours, and for minor or uncomplicated conditions, 4.2 hours.

See the website for additional information.

There are a variety of reasons for emergency room wait times. There is a shortage of available doctors, out patients (people that are not hospitalized, but are cared for elsewhere as in a doctors office, clinic, or in day surgery), calls from retirement homes, and medical emergencies from 911.

While working at a retirement home as a night cleaner, I learned that ambulances would be called for the most minor of conditions, such as a nose bled. I could not believe it. 

The elderly people would actually insist on being brought to a hospital for the most minor of conditions. This is not unusual. 

As people age what may not be serious to you are I, becomes a big deal for an old person, who is no longer able to care for him or herself. A minor condition such as a nose bleed, may actually be the precursor to a major medical problem. There could be an underlying medical condition such as a blood or genetic disorder; therefore all requests for medical care by an old person must be taken seriously.


If you or someone in your care is experiencing a health crisis or has an urgent medical conditions, do not hesitate to call 911. Examples of urgent medical conditions include;

• Signs of heart attack or stroke
• Extreme pain
• Severe bleeding
• Broken bones
• Shortness of breath or respiratory distress

If you have to wait more than 8 hours, and you are not in any distress, and you feel your condition can wait until you can see your family doctor, let the administrative staff know. I would wait until I'm seen. If I need to go to an emergency room, then there is something definitely wrong with me. I'm not wasting my time for nothing.