What Happened?

Emergency rooms are supposed to be places where patients receive urgent care, but for my mother, the experience was anything but urgent or careful. On August 24, 2024, she checked into the Royal Jubilee Hospital’s emergency room, presenting with extreme fatigue, chills, aches and pains, and a sharp pain in her left side. Both her personal doctor and the 811 nurse line recommended she seek emergency medical care immediately, fearing a serious underlying condition. When she arrived at the Royal Jubilee ER at 5 p.m., the wait time displayed on the screen was 5 hours and 44 minutes. It seemed daunting, but given her symptoms, she trusted that emergency care would be worth the wait. After explaining her condition to a nurse, she was told to sit and wait until her name was called. Hours passed with little communication. By 1 a.m. (eight hours after she arrived), she was finally moved to an examination room where she waited for the next four hours. At 5 a.m., a doctor came in to conduct blood tests and a CT scan. She was then moved back to the waiting room with no indication of when her results would come. It was now over 12 hours since she’d arrived. Fatigued and in pain, she began to question whether she should have come to the ER at all. While waiting, she met several other patients, each with their own disheartening stories: Patient 1 was removed from the ER after being disruptive. His frustration over the hours-long wait led to an outburst, and instead of receiving care, he was escorted out. Patient 2 had to restart his six-hour wait after leaving the hospital briefly to retrieve his phone charger, missing his name when it was called. Patient 3 left without answers, advised only to book an appointment with a specialist who could take months to see. Patient 4, an 80-year-old woman, waited patiently for over six hours, despite her age and frail condition, without seeing a doctor.

Why This is Unacceptable:

None of these individuals would have been in the ER if they weren’t already facing one of the worst days of their lives. While discomfort is inevitable in such situations, the experiences we witnessed demonstrate the issue goes beyond that. It is dangerous. For one, my mother was left unsupervised in an examination room for over four hours. If her condition had worsened during that time, it could have gone unnoticed for hours. In interviews with the CBC, doctors describe patients dying in the hallways of hospitals as they wait to receive care. This is further highlighted by the recent, tragic death of Luanora Irtenkauf in a BC hospital after she waited over 12 hours for emergency treatment. This is a systemic problem that can lead to devastating consequences. Even in cases where the patients don’t die waiting, patients may leave without being diagnosed, or avoid seeking emergency care in the future altogether. This could result in life-threatening conditions being ignored because the cost of waiting seems too high. The Bigger Picture: A Failing System What happened to my mother isn’t unique. Across British Columbia, emergency room wait times have been climbing steadily, leaving patients like my mother in limbo. The current system is failing to provide care to those who need it most and thereby creating a healthcare environment where people may avoid seeking help altogether. According to the latest data, the average ER wait time in BC is now over 5 hours - up significantly from previous years. This healthcare crisis is worsened by frequent closures of ERs in the interior, leaving some completely without options for emergency care. To reiterate, this system isn’t just uncomfortable - it’s unsafe.

What Can Be Done: Policy Recommendations

While BC’s healthcare system faces numerous challenges, there are concrete steps that could alleviate the strain on emergency rooms and improve care for all patients.

1. Accessible, Live Wait Times for All Hospitals

Vancouver hospitals have implemented online ER wait times through edwaittimes.ca, but this system should be extended across BC. Patients should be able to check wait times at different hospitals to make informed decisions about where to seek care. This could distribute patient flow more evenly, reducing overcrowding in certain ERs and allowing those with less urgent conditions to plan for a potentially long wait by packing for an overnight stay.

2. Alternative Testing Routes for Non-Urgent Patients

Many patients, like my mother, are referred to the ER primarily for access to imaging, blood tests, or other diagnostic tools. However, this strains ER resources unnecessarily. We need alternative pathways for testing outside the emergency room for non-urgent cases. Urgent Primary Care Centres (UPCCs) must be equipped to provide this kind of testing, or hospitals could set up outpatient diagnostic centres to handle referrals from GPs and nurses. This would keep emergency resources focused on critical patients.

3. A Call-Back System for Low-Triage Patients

Patients with lower triage ratings could be given the option to return home or wait elsewhere, with a call-back system in place to notify them when they are next in line. This would reduce overcrowding in waiting rooms and ensure patients can rest in a more comfortable environment without losing their place in line.

4. Increase Staffing and Resources at Key Hospitals

The provincial government has taken some steps, such as introducing a new medical school at SFU and implementing measures to attract more nurses, but more immediate action is needed. Hiring more ER physicians and nurses at high-volume hospitals like Royal Jubilee is essential. The current staffing levels are not sufficient to handle the volume of patients, especially as the population grows and ages.

5. Use of Technology to Streamline Care

Telemedicine services can be expanded for non-critical cases. Many people end up in the ER because they don’t have access to other types of care, particularly after hours. By increasing the availability of virtual consults, more patients could be diverted away from ERs entirely, receiving prescriptions or referrals remotely when appropriate.

Conclusion: A System in Desperate Need of Change

The state of BC’s emergency rooms is unacceptable. No one should have to endure 16+ hours of waiting in pain and confusion without knowing when, or if, they will receive care. Patients like my mother are left feeling like they made the wrong decision to seek help—when in fact, they had no other option. The system isn’t just uncomfortable, it’s dangerous. It’s time for BC to make serious reforms, focusing on better resource allocation, transparency, and alternative care pathways. We need a healthcare system that ensures no one hesitates to seek emergency care when their life could be on the line.

Sources

https://www.ubcmedicinepac.ca/past-campaigns/safety-in-bc-emergency-departments

https://www.cma.ca/about-us/what-we-do/press-room/canadas-health-care-providers-urge-premiers-ensure-health-care-remains-priority

https://globalnews.ca/news/10180822/bc-woman-dies-hospital-wait/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/emergency-care-bc-ubc-medicine-pac-report-1.7139747

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-physicians-open-letter-1.6843980

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G_zeVwDMEbXGvcPsUsndL8pWo0kvv0A2/view

https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-services/urgent-and-primary-care-centres