I'm honestly in shock. My wife is in excruciating pain and is only 7 days postpartum. I took her to Milton Hospital's Emergency Room and I checked that it said it is roughly 3 hours to see a doctor. We've been here for 3 hours waiting on a preliminary blood work. At this rate I expect we'd only see the doctor 6-7 hours later. The online wait times are broken and it's sad to feel that the system is pretty broken.
Just venting.
EDIT:
Ok damn, I didn't expect this post to have such strong reactions. I was just venting lol. I unfortunately won't be able to respond to everyone because I am taking care of my postpartum wife and newborn baby. Ive typed up a long response in pieces so brace yourself for a long read. If you do read it fully, know that you are entitled to your opinion and I will always respect it whether we agree or disagree.
Me responses to general themes:
A cheap shot at our healthcare:
I am a proud Canadian and take pride in our healthcare. My post in no way shape or form was meant as a cheap shot at my privilege of free healthcare. Yes we pay for it thoroughly taxes but the fact my wife had a complicated birth and left the hospital owing zero is a blessing. However, it doesn't mean our system can't be better or we shouldn't strive to do better.
My emergency isn't an emergency:
You don't know me, but I don't abuse our system. I wouldn't have gone if I didn't truly feel it was an emergency. For context, I had a bad knee injury where a very heavy object fell on my knee and my whole leg bruised. I could still somewhat stand and walk on it although it was painful AF but I called up the family doctor, got requisitions for scans and went through the process. My wife came out of a complicated pregnancy and delivery and I believed we were in a bad spot (belief confirmed if you read below).
Triumph in Triage:
I don't want to win triage. Most comments mentioned I don't understand triage. We were triaged green ( defined as Small cuts, minor sprains, mild rashes, or small burns) where most were able to chat, my wife was almost screaming with pain. Yet, they were all getting called and we didn't. I had to take my wife to the washroom and we took a while because she was struggling, when I got back I asked the nurse drawing blood if we got called and we missed it, she immediately said no without even asking or checking my wife's name. Like how did she know? We hadn't even talked to her by then so she didn't know us. That aside, blood work usually gets done fast as many have said so 4 hours for blood work was crazy to me.
Color me Green:
As I said we got triaged into the Green zone (Small cuts, minor sprains, mild rashes, or small burns). With my wife's pregnancy and recent delivery, chances of an infection were high. At a minimum, she should've been in the yellow zone (Moderate abdominal pain, minor fractures, or mild infections). For those coming at me hard, IT WAS AN INFECTION SHE HAD. So yes, mistakes do happen, staff does get overwhelmed but just as they have the right to feel overwhelmed, I have the right to feel frustrated and worried for my wife.
Three Hours is good: maybe I didn't express myself well, my apologies. The three hours was just to get the initial blood sample done, not to see a doctor. This was just to go past the initial step. By the time we saw the doctor, if was much, much, much later. I don't want to go into timelines because that will just get a new wave of "that's terrible" or "that's terrific" and I feel like it's redundant at this point.
Overall, You can down vote me all you want, it doesn't hurt my feelings. I was angry and fighting for my wife who hadn't been able to even hold our newborn baby because of the pain. If you ask why the pain came suddenly, it didn't. She has been feeling pain since delivery, we called labor and delivery and were told that once we're discharged it's not their department and to go to emergency. She kept getting told that it was "normal delivery pain" until it got unbearable and I took her to the ER.
Nonetheless, I have had positive experiences in the ER before where I received the appropriate level of care on past occasions. However, it is okay to accept that this time we didn't. It doesn't mean no good is ever done, just means that we can do better and we should strive to.
went at 9 pm with my mom because she was having dizzy spells. by midnight she'd had 3 scans done, 2 aneurysms found, and an appointment made with a specialist for 8:30 am.
another time i took my son because he had severe stomach cramps and we waited for 8 hours before leaving without seeing a doctor. he had gas and was fine by the time we made it home. the people who are waiting hours and hours to see a doctor are waiting because their emergencies aren't emergencies.
Going to add so many people go to the er for something their family doctor or a walk in could handle. The amount of parents I have heard say they took their child to the er because of an ear ache is insane.
The last time I went to the ER for an arrhythmia, I had to wait for the person in front of me to triage for
"My arm hurts after my dog pulled hard during a walk last night"
When they took an EKG I was in immediately after that though
Tbh, despite the pain your wife is in, 3 hours is good in Ontario - and I know it's not and I am also not downplaying the severity of your wife's pain. In my area, it's not unheard of to have 12+ hour waits. We often only have 1 doctor working ER. I live in KW. The population between Kitchener and Waterloo is over 700,000. Our second hospital is smaller, and though has an ER, it is only slightly better in wait times, but only slight. Our current wait times today are 5.25 and 7.5 hours between the two.
This is the state of health care that is severely underfunded when that shortfall is going to private enterprise to charge 2-3 times more for services that our public system could have done. Not only that, but wait times under those private-paid-by-public-dollars services have actually increased and are only adding to the overall problem of our healthcare decline.
Was recently at LHSC Victoria with my toddler due to a bacterial infection. Although pediatrics was only 3 hours I checked the general ER wait time page and it was 8-9 hours and LHSC University was 12-13 hours.
OP- it still sucks for your wife. I was also admitted 2 weeks post partum due to an infection. Its already a super tough time with a newborn and then being sick/ in pain. I wish you both the very best and that you get the help that you need.
Ahhh yes... you're right. The people who die waiting in hospital for care are definitely not emergiences. Silly me!
I didn't say that I personally waited that long, but that our local hospitals are known to have this long of a wait time. We quite literally have 1 doctor who works our ER for a population over 700,000. Maybe you don't understand how absurd that is but it's worth repeating since you clearly think you know better lmao.
Some people are there for various things that your GP can't manage. They aren't going to die, but your GP isn't going to get a broken bone set and casted or surgically repaired.
We have added ~6 million people to Canada’s population since 2016(~36 million to ~42 million). That’s ~17% jump in population. Ontario has increased from ~13.9 million to ~16.3 million.
This is a huge increase in users without a corresponding increase in funding/services.
I don't imagine the new hospital will be much better. Lots of money to spend on the builders putting the hospital together, but the funds will be lacking once it's built.
We have taken to going to Mac for the kiddo. I haven't had need of the hospital in a long while thankfully but anyone who does in the region and doesn't have a means to get to another hospital for timely care are kind of SOL.
I'd go a step further and say it's purpose is to stop you from dying, people seem to think you can get other types of care and it's not the case. Even a very serious life altering injury will only be stabilized there before they ship you out
This. I'd just play stupid and show up at labor and delivery, worst case they send you downstairs to the ER. Or at least call them first before the ER.
Agreed. I will never complain about the healthcare system again. I know there are problems. I know people slip through the cracks. But, we have it good. I went in for mild pain that wouldn't go away, expecting to wait hours. Triage clocked that I was internally hemorrhaging and I was in emergency surgery 35 minutes later at a different hospital, transported by EMTs. The nurses and doctors saved my life. Bill = 0$.
I don’t want to minimize or be an apologist because sometimes things just really screw up from understaffing or errors, and thats never a good reason.
But it’s quite possible there were triaged life and death situations that got bumped ahead of your wife’s.
Two years ago, my loved one went in, unresponsive, and was quickly triaged and then confirmed as serious stroke. He was transported by ambulance to Trillium Mississauga hospital (the west gta advanced cardio and stroke hub) with one of the Milton ER nurses accompanying in the ambulance and administering his stabilizing care up to the moment he was taken by the Trillium ER doctor.
This all happened really quickly and it took a planned Milton shift nurse and assigned to this one crit patient for most of her shift, which she ended in a different hospital and then had to use a taxi chit to get back to milton. My loved one ultimately recovered, after 8 weeks in hospital, because jointly Milton and Trillium saved his life.
I’d never seen this side of it before, but when you are triaged as critical the system really works well.
Back to your wife, I wish they could execute the blood tests faster to at least determine if they can get her pain relief quickly or not. It is NO FUN sitting on those hard blue corridor room beds in agony. I hope all else goes well and that she recovers soon.
Part of the problem is too many people do to the ER for non-emergencies. Either because they don’t have a family dr or the wait to see their dr is too long.
We’ve had a few trips to the ER recently in my family. Neither had to wait that long as the reasons were going to the ER were true emergencies. In both cases we were taken back quite quickly. This is in a large city, and two different hospitals.
I’m coming from the US, so I like to think I know something about healthcare shit shows. These times would be short in the US. I’ve waited 5+ hours in an ED waiting room a few times. In the states, if my doctor absolutely could not see me, they’d refer me to an urgent care. The urgent cares are not also family doctors, so there’s more availability.
The system here seems to be designed to channel people to the ED. My family doctor books at least a week out, and their walk-in has very limited spots. If I had something semi-urgent (like need to be seen at some point today/tomorrow) I’d likely be out of luck and have to go to the ED. Not having actual dedicated urgent cares is a shortcoming, but obviously there aren’t enough doctors to go around.
I agree there should be provincially run urgent cares that anyone can go to with imaging and blood work in-house. We have zero urgent cares in my city pop > 150k
I am not Canadian but curious to know. Why don't people with non emergencies go to walk in clinics instead of the ER? Going to the ER for non emergencies is absolutely bizarre to me.
In my part of Canada (ontario) we don't have that many and the ones we do are usually closed on weekends and only open from 9-5pm, in fact the ones in my town have those stupid hours and the doctors not even there they all just have a telehealth doctor. I have a family doctor but I've still been stuck in the ER on the weekend with a kid needing antibiotics for an ear infection because there's literally no where else to take them and if you know kids they prefer to get sick on a Friday after 5pm.
If you have a family Dr then you can’t use walk-in clinics or you’ll be de-rostered from the family Dr (and it’s very hard to find a new one these days).
Urgent cares aren’t open 24/7 and aren’t that easy to get to for a lot of people. My city has 2, and we have 3 hospitals and 1 children’s hospital. For a city of over 600,000. Hospitals are much easier to get to than urgent care for a lot of people.
I’ve had the same family doctor my entire life and have also been to like 4 different walk in clinics across the gta. No change, no re roster.
Some people just treat every ailment like it’s life threatening. I personally know someone who took their kid to the er for chickpox. I feel like you should receive a fine for things like that to curb the behavior.
Edited to remove an insult to people’s intelligence
It just depends on your doctor. Each time you go to a walk-in clinic in ontario, the your family doctor gets a portion of their government fee cut because the government just paid for you to get treated elsewhere (family doctors get a lump sum per year per patient registered with them; walk-ins get paid per individual visit)
So basically going to a walk-in cuts your family doctor’s salary.
Some doctors are okay with that, recognizing that there are times when people have to end up at a walk-in.
Other doctors are assholes, taking the view that if you literally cause them to personally lose any money at all, then they will cut you loose.
My family doctor is busy every single day… 2 week wait time if I called today to set up an appointment kind of busy.
I’m pretty sure she considers it a blessing when people go to the walk in LOL. I’m suprised other doctors aren’t in the same boat considering the shortage
There are two main different billing options for family docs 1. Fee for service (what most people think of) or 2. Blended capitation (get paid monthly per rostered patient and get a reduced fee for services rendered). It's more complicated, but the model your doctor chose will determine how they feel about walk in clinics lol
Don't most family doctors have after hours care? Maybe were just lucky but I thought that was pretty standard to avoid the need to go to clinics. We've used the after hours care through our family doc many times, especially with the kids, and it's been walk right in
Another issue is walk in clinics are typically so full you’re still waiting 3-4h to be seen, and can be turned away from a clinic if it is already full. I’ve gone to a clinic before opening and still been 15+ in line, with people lined up at the door.
As humans we feel there is always one or multiple reasons for something that is a problem. When this is not the case here.
People have been going to the ER for random things, for decades. It hasn't increased or decreased these past few years, the only thing that has changed is hospitals have a lot less funding now.
The main and strongest point to why wait times are high is because the province has double/triple dipped into hospital resources. Proof of this is some ERs were closing because they couldn't pay staff to man them and to this day hospitals will only have 1 doctor on site for the entire night shift for a city of 100k+ or more people.
We can blame our fellow Canadians or blame what the actual reason is. Our hospitals are extremely underfunded and not well utilized.
I think getting wait times down would induce people to go for non-emergency reasons. I'd love for everyone to get seen in an hour but I think people would start using it instead of an urgent care or walk in.
Is a centralized model that is well-funded and well-equipped such a terrible idea? Genuine question, I don't know, but hospitals are very well-equipped and generally accessible for most I'm a big city. Last time I went to Humber River Hospital years ago, they had a colour coded system Red (true emergencies), orange (urgent), and green (walk-in type things). Hospitals have x-rays, ultrasounds, trained staff and proper equipment available if a condition that didn't seem urgent takes an unexpected turn and goes downhill fast. I think this model would be ideal for safety and efficiency. I think it would be great to have everything in one place, but we'd need to fund our hospitals. We'd save money though on urgent cares and private service providers (e.g. private blood labs, private imaging companies)
There was one time I had an infected cut on my hand, and the infection had just started to get worse instead of improving. I knew I needed antibiotics asap, so I called my doctor's office. The receptionist said the nurse practitioner could see me in 2 weeks. That is completely unacceptable. If they really couldn't see me, she should have known to direct me elsewhere. You can't leave an infection alone that long. The receptionist was flabbergasted when I told her this, she genuinely had no idea.
Most doctors will make time for urgent appointments like that however, she probably could have booked me in. So I went to the ER (no urgent cares nearby). If that receptionist had been better trained, I probably would have seen my GP instead of going to the ER. A lack of urgent cares is also an issue now that I mention it!
As an example of doctors making time for urgent appointments, I recently got a dog bite, and my doctor saw me the same day I called. This is how it should be for minor but urgent needs.
Agreed! When I took my son to the local children’s hospital with a neck injury and reduced lung capacity (he wasn’t passed out but was struggling to breathe), triage took him directly into a hospital room.
The patients we walked past in the waiting room were still sitting in the waiting room after we left 2.5 hours later. They still hadn’t been seen.
So they truly do triage and see patients with genuine emergencies first
I waited 4 hours for a lung collapse that required surgical intervention so this isn't a universal experience. That said id still rather wait than bankrupt my family in the God forbid unfortunate event I got cancer or something.
These are really great wait times (even just estimates) for a publicly funded system. Don't forget patients are triaged on entry so waiting is actually a good thing because you're not in a true life/death emergency desite being uncomfortable or in pain. Doesn't feel like it but it is something positive to give you perspective. Hope she gets some answers soon 🙏
Our healthcare system gets knocked a lot. I've been pretty happy with my experiences. I've gone a handful of times and i usually see a doctor within 4 hours-- more if scans and tests need to be done.
As a Canadian, I'm impressed with a lot of the things that we have access to... blood work, diagnostic imaging, community support-- all free! It's remarkable that you can walk in and get a CT scan of your brain within the same day without having to pay for anything.
I understand seeing someone in pain, especially a loved one, is tough, but we are very fortunate here.
Ever heard of someone named Luigi? :/
But...as a patient you definitely need to advocate for yourself and loved ones! No one else knows your body like yourself.
Which hospital? I've been a couple times recently with serious injuries. Artery dissection and appendicitis and both times I waited 6-8 hours. I also went to the least busy hospitals in the area.
We have only used the ED for actual emergencies, and every time we have been taken straight back with no wait. Everything else we do GP or walk in. If you are waiting 7 hours, it means that there are multiple people ahead of you that are in far worse shape.
Not defending Dougie at all but Ontario healthcare spending has actually increased by approximately 10% over the past 2 years from $91 billion to $101 billion.
It’s almost perhaps as if our emergency departments are actually being clogged up by people who should be going to their family doctor, but instead think their runny nose or bruised toe is an immediate medical emergency.
Unless you are in excruciating pain or at risk for immediate harm, go to a walk-in clinic or your family doctor.
Immigration and population has taken a toll on healthcare as well as the government. How can we increase numbers of residents but not number of hospitals or staff?
All true, but dont forget it was Wynne who attacked healthcare. Shes the one who LOWERED the budget. Look it up, One of her attacks was just over 100 million. That was later in her tenure. Earlier on when all was combined there was another 300 million cut. She was a complete and utter witch. I hate her, Trudeau and Ford. All three are corrupt pieces of shit.
No he hasn't. Wynne did the cuts. Ford is a piece of shit because he refuses to fund it. It was Wynne that did the budget cuts. She cut hundreds of millions from our healthcare system. Google it.
We why don’t we let foreign doctors practice? It would save us a ton of headaches and reduce the burden on the healthcare system. The US imports tons of medical talent every year
That's a simpleton view. The US doesn't just import immigrant doctors and let's them practice straight away. In both countries, doctors from most countries bar a few, have to relicense and take exams.
Because more doctors would mean more billing. And the government doesn’t to pay. The moment we have privatized healthcare (and it is coming) they will all of a sudden recognize foreign MD credentials.
ER nurse here. You shouldn't be waiting 3 hours for blood work to finish then a doctor see you. They get penalized the longer you're there, and bloodwork doesn't take 3 hours. Something happened - a VSA, someone went critical, or a bunch of CTAS 2's.
EDs don't run on a first come, first served basis. We will triage who we see next based on acuity and will do our best to keep everyone who wishes to remain so alive and get some initial management on board while we transfer care to the admitting team. I'm sorry you find waiting a few hours a difficult experience, but understand that you have been triaged appropriately, and if you believe there has been a mistake, or something has changed and are now imminently dying, or there was more to the story than you had told the triage nurse, then please let the triage nurse know and we will triage you appropriately again. There is a lot that we do behind the scenes before seeing you, such as order tests, wait for results, review the results, develop a differential diagnosis, order more tests if appropriate based on initial results, etc. Often, if the department is particularly busy, we will do all this before seeing you so we can do a focused history and physical exam and ultimately save time.
Intook my wife to the Falls hospital a couple of years back at 11:30 am and we left at 3 in the morning! I feel aorry for the stuff, but our hospitals down here are a shitshow
I fully believe the nurses on check in should be kicking ppl out who arent in need of urgent care. A big reason imo for the long wait times is for ppl going in to hospitals for dumb reasons.
My ex made me take her to the hospital because she was puking. Thats all, nothing special, just sick. She was a raging alcoholic, so that played a roll in the puking. Made me do shit like that multiple times. Then shed complain we waited for 8 hours. I fully blame ppl like her for that.
My mom went to the hospital for a major dizzy spell and weakness. Described in like she was falling out of herself. Took her to the same hospital. On check in, they confirmed she was in heart failure. They got her a room upstairs and taking tests instantly.
I broke a bone in my hand and went to that same hospital. Wasn't instant, wasnt all day, I think I waited an hour to be seen. Probably would have been quicker if it werent for so many ppl misusing the emergency room.
The wait times are mostly because of ppl misusing the hospital. Going in for things that walk in clinics are for.
2 million more including elderly coming from the one country we now get migration from. Only goes down from here until something drastic changes, which I don’t think will ever happen
How long has your wife had these symptoms, what kind of delivery did she have? If she is in debilitating pain please speak up and advocate to be seen sooner!
Just want to chime in to say that the experience in more rural areas is even worse. I’ve had great experiences of being seen quickly in Vaughan and Richmond Hill. Now, I live nearly 2 hours north of Ottawa. A few years ago I went to the (tiny and under resourced) local ER with suspected appendicitis and waited 7 hours to be seen, while patients with sprains and superficial cuts were seen before me, only to be told there was no CT scan tech available. I was advised to drive myself home, sleep for the night, and go to a different hospital in the morning. By that point, my appendix had already ruptured long before and I was hospitalized for a week.
Doug Ford is dismantling one of the most vital public goods that advocates once fought very hard to secure. Our tax system makes no sense if it doesn’t offer high-quality, reliable, and accessible healthcare.
I think there's a bigger underlying issue here. The ER is meant for emergency situations. Many people use it instead of a walk in clinic or their fam Dr because they either don't have a family doctor, or it would take way too long to get an appointment/followup tests. My parents fam doctor is booking weeks ahead, and even when you do book an appointment you end up waiting 1-2 hours in the waiting room before seeing her. My mom has some pretty bad medical issues that could technically be seen by a family physician, but usually her situation is day by day and needs instant attention. Seeing as the fam doctor would take a week to book, and then another 2 weeks before some requisition is finally provided to go to a test somewhere, while er provides the test within the 6-12 hour wait, it becomes a matter of necessity to go to the ER instead. This clogs up the system bc realistically my mom doesn't need the ER, but still ends up there because there's no place else to go to get the help she needs in a timely way.
Another example is my father in law. He has a leaky heart valve and it's making day to day tasks very difficult. Walking, bathroom, eating etc. he had a cardiologist appointment for yesterday. It was booked for months in advance. We've been patiently waiting - wanting to take him to the ER bc he sounds terrible - but he says nope, I will wait for my cardiologist. Appointment day comes, my husband go with him to the clinic. Doctor isn't thete. Nurse says they will take tests and doctor will call him tomorrow 515pm with results. Annoying because now he won't see what a bad state my FIL is in, but whatever. We wait for call. No call. Now what. You wait 3 months for a specialist, who doesn't show up or call you back. Your fam Dr will just refer you to another cardiologist for another 4 month wait. I guess we'll just have to go to the ER.
I had high BP and heart rate, was taken care with in 5 min in milton hospital, they let me in after preliminary assessment right there...emergency room waiting area at the moment was full with ppl who should have gone to walkin..
Agree. the wait times are not accurate. When you go to the emerge expect to stay there for hours. Many nurses say it is because people are going for minor issues which can be resolved at a walk in clinic. This is our health system now.
I mean it could be worse. I’ve seen 17 hrs before. Priority patients is everything if you lay it all out at triage or call your OBGYN in your wife’s case first maybe they can assist.
Yeah it has always been like this as far as I know. I’m 37 and been in and out of ERs from Collingwood/Meaford to Barrie and Toronto. Doesn’t seem any different than it ever has been.
I was there a few months ago. I went around 3am. There were only 3 other patients at that time. Two of them had already been seen. The doctor didnt see me until 5 hours later. And I didn't get out until 8 hours total.
Before this year, it was always 3 hours total.
Also worth mentioning that they misdiagnosed me. And if I wanted to go to my family doctor, I would have had to wait almost a week.
Damn thats low compared to Kitchener. Still not good.
Thanky Wynne for cutting the budget so severely to our much needed healthcare! And thanks Ford for refusing to fund it again! You've proven that both the left and right don't give a flying fuck about us.
Those times in the grand scheme are actually pretty good surprisingly.
A reminder to thoughtfully vote in the next election...this is by design to starve the system and based on current data in the sector, things will likely only be getting worse once cold and flu season hits.
Seven days postpartum with pain that bad deserves a proper follow-up — if the ER brushed it off, call your OB or family doctor's office directly and ask specifically about postpartum musculoskeletal assessment (and pelvic floor physio), not just the general line. Keep a short note of when the pain spikes — feeding positions, carrying the baby, stairs — that timeline is exactly what a good practitioner needs to help you.
I'm an osteopath in Oakville and I see postpartum cases regularly — happy to answer questions here if anything about the responses is unclear.
Good addition — the UK pathway makes sense for week one. In Ontario it's similar: in the first ~6 weeks, postpartum concerns usually go back to your midwife or OB, not the ER. For the musculoskeletal piece specifically — pelvic girdle pain, back pain from feeding and carrying — you can also go straight to a pelvic-health physio or an osteopath experienced with postpartum cases, no referral needed. Main thing: at 7 days postpartum, new or worsening pain deserves a proper assessment somewhere, not a brush-off.
last time I went it said 4 hours and I was there 13. The problem is they don't tell you to go home I went in with blood pressure 201/117. They did a bunch of tests withing 30 minutes, then I sat there for 12.5 hours to be given a prescription and told to follow up with my family doctor. A one minute conversation after the testing and I could have gone home and went to my doctor in the morning.
Went to the hospital 2.5 weeks ago, 8 months pp + bf. The wait time was 6 hours, but I was triaged urgently. I ended up waiting only about 3… still an excruciating wait. The problem came when they dismissed me very quickly after seeing me, prescribing me two medications (one of which I came to find out is not safe for breastfeeding), and sending me on my way after just a few hours of observation. I didn’t leave the hospital feeling any better than I was when I first walked in, and I also didn’t have any answer for why I was feeling that way.
I’ve since gone to a walk in and my family doctor to try and get more referrals and tests… and was just given more prescriptions and told “if not better in a week, go back to ER”. Almost 3 weeks of feeling this way and struggling to take care of my baby. I’ve lost my milk supply on top of that, which is a whole other grievance.
The nurses and doctors at the hospital weren’t even reading my chart. I had to repeat everything to everyone, reiterating each time “I’m breastfeeding”. Telling them when they last gave me a medication/pushed something in my IV.
Our healthcare system is failing.
Please make sure to advocate for your wife and demand answers and tests on her behalf if there’s no real answer they can give you. I hope she recovers well.
I'm shocked that there's not a 10s place value in front of the wait time
Whatever you do do not give up on getting her care. Remember the doctors and nurses want the best for her but this is a very high risk time for someone to be having pain like she is having. Don't take no for an answer especially if she does not have a primary care physician. Do not leave without all imaging being done as well as urinalysis and blood work
If you think that is bad
Try living in Newfoundland and driving 2 hours to the hospital only to find out that the emergency department is closed Because they don’t have any doctors to open it
Wait times also depend on the severity of your situation. I went to the ER last winter for coughing up blood and was taken in much faster than other people who were there before us as my symptoms couldve been something serious.
The major problem with Canadian hospital wait times is the large majority of people in them don't need to be there and can be seen by their regular doctor or a walk in clinic/after hours clinic. Last time I was in the hospital I had to wait 14 hours vomiting non stop because they were dealing with people Who came in with scrapes, minor burns, minor headaches not migraines. There was at least 40 people in the waiting room with me and only 4 or 5 of them looked like they had a serious problem.
Where in the world can you walk into an emergency department and be seen right away and not have to wait for any tests? I'm not saying this is a great experience by any means, but if your life is not being threatened you are going to wait.
I live in Windsor, Ontario and it seems like the online wait times aren’t accurate but I’m quite jealous you guys have something like that! I know my friend in Montreal said he had the same thing. Not that this makes things more bearable but I went to the ER over the span of 2 years about 4-5 times while awaiting surgery. On average, I had an 8-10 hour wait.
The worst part is the fact that over 50% of those that go to the ER could easily get their problem taken care of at an urgent care or walk in clinic. It’s so frustrating waiting forever when people are there that don’t need to be
Nothing angers me more than when im at the ER for my kids or myself in an emergency and I see an entire family waiting, phones blasting, kids running around, on FaceTime. They are taking up seats just to sit and chat like it's a night out or something. 10 years ago we didn't have this problem.
It’s a hit and miss. Took my 97 year old dad into emergency. Called his doctor and was advised to go directly to emergency. Hallway had 2 stretchers in it. When we left it was filled with patients and paramedics waiting for hand off. Lots of elderly people.
I want to say all the staff at Oakville Memorial were attentive and considerate with my dad.
3 hours in emerg for me today. I had an urgent issue requiring a specialist but not emergency. In and out of St Joe's in Hamilton in less than 4 hours including consult, imaging, specialist and referral/discharge.
That's concerning, they must not be too worried though but they don't always gamble in the right direction.
I experienced sudden vision loss and was seen within minutes but they'll take that and chest pain more seriously than most else because if it's very bad it can kill you within minutes.
Pain depending on the level, is usually urgent but at least won't kill you. It would be better if everyone could be seen much more quickly though in general :/
This is so frustrating because I have seen this exact problem since the 1980s. There is zero chance this will be fixed until the hospitals do the one thing they have refused to do for decades: Have more ER doctors on shifts.
Instead, the media trots out ER wait time stories every year as if its a recent or new problem, they let us blame each other for things like using the ER incorrectly or too much, they interview hospital admin who swear they are supposedly looking for solutions. Every single year this repeats itself.
The solution has always been more med school seats & ER residency spots, and more ER doctors on shifts. The lies and excuses have gone on too long.
Emergency visits here in rural eastern ontario are often 10-12 hour wait times, ever since covid. It's so unfortunate to see the lack of resources provided to the public health care system, they deserve better. We deserve better.
2 hours is really not that bad depending on nature of emergency and that will get triaged. Some will be much faster. I'm not trying to downplay your emergency or the waittimes listed online are right. These parts need to be expressed, and I understand needing to voice and vent, but being with your wife is more to me.
I wish this wasn’t the case, but women in pain statistically are less likely to get pain management & less likely to have their pain taken seriously. I’m not saying that this is what’s happening here but women in pain are not treated well by the healthcare industry. I’m sorry your wife is dealing with this. Hoping for a speedy recovery
That's just a general timeframe for anyone who goes. We use a triage system here, so if someone comes in with serious issues they are seen first. These wait times reflect those who come in for a sore elbow or a stuffy nose (yes that happens more than you think).
It does raise the issue of people not being able to get family doctors since a lot of what people go to the ER for should actually just be doctors appointments with their family doc.
If you have a staph infection or concussion...line skipper. I only waited an hour, and my son was seen in 30 minutes post concussion from a hockey game.
Obviously our system is flawed and underfunded but it’s also abused by the public.
Emergency room: Life- or limb-threatening emergencies ONLY.
Urgent care: Issues needing prompt MEDICAL attention within 24 hours.
Walk-in clinic: Minor, routine, or non-urgent issues.
Not wanting to wait for your family doc, not wanting to wait in line, going at a convenient time for you are not reasons to use a different avenue and take immediate care away from an actual emergency.
For those claiming your family doctor has demanded you don’t use a walk in clinic, those doctors would be part of a Family Health Team or Network which does provide their own after-hours care. It may be at another clinic or with a different doctor. If they are telling you that you can’t see a random walk-in clinic, it’s because they have their own. No doctor can flat out tell you not to get care without a contingency.
Not being able to see your family doctor at a time convenient for you, is not a valid reason to visit an ER or UC, and that is how we end up with longer than necessary wait times adding insult to injury in an already strained system.
That's not an accurate triage, and speaks to how poorly women's pain is assessed and treated, especially post-partum. Sepsis moves incredibly fast. Unfortunately, the problem of inadequate health care for women is endemic to health care systems around the world and is well-documented. Thank you for advocating for her and I'm glad she didn't have further complications. I
Yeah took FiL to emerg Friday of the thanksgiving weekend. We were 2nd in line at 7am with empty emerg triage rooms. By 9am emerge was packed. Thankfully FIL got an emerg bed and saw a dr bt 11am. Xray and results by 1pm, assessed by IM, NP and finally admitted by 6pm. He ended up sleeping the night in emerg and transfered to a room the next morning. The was at OT in Halton.
Sadly many hospitals are not only underfunded but they are understaffed too!
The level of care he has received is fantastic.
And yet we're spending $50 million to rip out necessary bike lanes in Toronto, when that money could go into Healthcare. This is Douggie Fraud's whole plan. Kneecap our Healthcare system so we are forced to go private. Then he can funnel provincial funds into other personal bullshit.
36
u/Rednaxxela 3d ago
I'm sorry you're going through that.
I went 2 weeks ago with a broken bone - it said it would take 3 hours. I was in and out within 2 hours with checks, x-rays and a fast-cast.
It's all anecdotal.