20-hour waits or longer: Canadian doctors group reports overflowing emergency rooms – CTV
Jan. 11, 2024
The Canadian Medical Association is calling on provinces and territories to rebuild the health-care system to provide more access amid reports of overflowing emergency rooms across the country.
In a statement Thursday, the organization said that both patients and health-care professionals are suffering under the current state of affairs, and that changes need to be made to overhaul the entire system.
“Despite the tireless efforts of physicians, nurses and other health providers, testimonies from around the country illustrate that patients in some jurisdictions are waiting as long as 20 hours or longer to receive care,” Kathleen Ross, president of the CMA, wrote in the statement.
“Staff shortages and hospital overcrowding combined with poor access to high-quality team-based primary care are leaving hospital emergency departments woefully under-resourced for the avalanche of patients with influenza, COVID-19 or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) at this time of year.”
