Windsor Regional Hospital addresses Canada’s rising ER wait times

If you’ve noticed it has been taking longer to get seen in the emergency room, you’re not alone.

A new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) showed that emergency room wait times are creeping up across Canada, by as much as 20 to 30 per cent, depending on where you live.

At Windsor Regional Hospital, the average wait time to see a doctor in August was around four hours.

Jonathan Foster, vice president of emergency services, said that number has been going up.

“That’s at both campuses combined,” he said.

“And that’s just the average. If you’re coming in with a life-threatening illness, you’re going to be seen immediately.”

The CIHI report indicated that patients with urgent cases spent about 4.1 hours from triage to discharge — up 21 per cent from three years ago.

For less severe cases nationally, according to the report, the median stay was about 2.7 hours.

At WRH in August, the average length of stay for urgent cases was 7.3 hours.

Less severe cases in Windsor saw an average stay of 5.7 hours.

Foster emphasized that the severity of a condition played a big role in how fast patients were seen.

“We see people based on how serious their presenting medical concerns are. So, if your life is at risk, you're going to be seen very quickly,” he reassured.

One of the big challenges in Windsor-Essex, according to Foster, is the lack of healthcare options after office hours.

“Emerge is the only place that’s open 24/7,” he said.

“There's really limited availability for things like urgent care centers after 4 p.m. or evenings or weekends.”

Foster noted that this August was particularly tough.

“It’s been more pressure than we normally see,” he said.

“And we’re not even in cold and flu season, which is concerning because that's where volumes really do start to get increasingly pressured.”

He went on to explain the steps Windsor Regional Hospital has been taking to ease the load.

One initiative is the pediatric diversion program at the Met campus, where kids with certain conditions are redirected from the ER to the pediatric floor for specialized care.

The hospital has also teamed up with local police through a nurse-police partnership, focusing on substance use, addictions and mental health, which helps prevent unnecessary ER visits.

They have also been working closely with Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to distribute patient loads more evenly across all three emergency departments in Windsor-Essex.

“September does tend to be a busy month when school gets back in,” said Foster.

“We really are hoping that people are taking proactive and preventative steps for their healthcare. See your family doctor or nurse practitioner if you have a condition. Don’t let it worsen.”

Despite the added stress, Foster expressed confidence in Windsor’s ER staff.

“Our nursing staff and our physicians are very passionate about what they do. They want to provide excellent and amazing care and I would put my life in their hands any day,” he said.

“We’re working hard to fix the system around them.”

Foster’s advice? Be proactive with your health, but don’t hesitate to visit the ER if you need to.

“The best strategy is prevention -- seeing your family doctor or nurse practitioner regularly, getting routine checkups,” he said.

“But if you need urgent care, don’t hesitate to come in.”