Wait times force 1 in 3 patients to leave Winnipeg’s largest ER without seeing doctor: Shared Health – CBC

Staffing shortage critical issue in seeing patients in timely manner: HSC official

Oct 20, 2023

While increasing wait times continue to put pressure on Manitoba’s health-care system, doctors say very sick people are leaving the emergency room without being seen by a physician at all.

More than one in every three patients who recently sought medical care at the emergency department of Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre ended up leaving without seeing a doctor, according to recent data supplied by Shared Health.

“That’s upsetting,” Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Michael Boroditsky said when shown the data. “Obviously concerning for me as a physician and for the patients for sure even more so.”

According to the data, 13.1 per cent of those seeking medical attention in 2019 left without being seen by a physician.

During that same time period in 2023 that number skyrocketed to 34.1 per cent, meaning nearly one in three patients who presented and were triaged in the emergency room left without being seen by a doctor.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/left-without-being-seen-hsc-wait-times-manitoba-1.7000682