Latest news with #waittimes
CBC
2 days ago
- General
- CBC
Quebec ombudsman calls for reforms over lengthy death certificate wait times
Quebec's ombudsman released a report and recommendations on Wednesday following its investigation into the long wait times for processing death certificates with the provincial agency that registers marriages, births and deaths in the province. The 32-page report shows that an increase in deaths, change in workflows, outdated information technology systems, staffing shortages and delays due to administrative costs were among the main factors behind extensive wait times. The ombudsman's office launched the investigation after the office received more than 700 complaints alleging unreasonable delays in processing death certificates between May and August 2024. That's seven times the amount of complaints it receives on average per year, according to the report. The investigation marks the third intervention the office has made since 2018 with the provincial agency, known in French as the Directeur de l'état civil (DEC), due to delays in processing death certificates, ombudsman Marc-André Dowd said at a news conference Wednesday. "When the DEC imposes delays on citizens that complicate the settlement of an estate, the administrative issues can cause anxiety for bereaved families," Dowd said. "This is not just about access to a document; it's a difficult time in people's lives. They have to deal with complex procedures while coping with grief and distress." Wait times for receiving a death certificate peaked in July 2024 when delays ranged from 66 days for files that were complete at the time of submission and 85 days for those that were missing information. In November of 2024, the DEC made a commitment on its website to limit delays to 20 working days — a target Dowd said is acceptable. The ombudsman made a total of 11 recommendations to redress delays in services. The first two recommend that the DEC develop by Oct. 31 a plan for addressing the expected increase in demand for death certificates and come up with a contingency plan. According to the report, the DEC speaks of its agility and versatility, but it doesn't provide "any concrete action plan or a number of requests beyond which appropriate measures must be taken." The report noted that the agency experienced intermittent connectivity issues that caused data loss. However, the DEC is in the process of migrating its network to the Employment Ministry's and will be automating some tasks and updating applications to improve service. With the provincial death rate trending upward, Dowd said on Wednesday that the agency should adjust its tools and workflows based on the available projections.
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Small southern Alberta health centres have lower ER wait times, study suggests
A new report shows wait times at Alberta ERs aren't improving, but waits in southern Alberta ERs are lower on average than in Calgary and Edmonton. A new report shows wait times at Alberta emergency rooms aren't improving. But the study also shows waits in southern Alberta ERs are lower on average than in Calgary and Edmonton. Alberta patients spent a median time of three hours and 48 minutes in total per visit last year. The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) found the median length of stay, from arrival to discharge or admission, has increased by 54 minutes in Alberta over the past five years. Edmonton had the highest median time at nearly six hours, and Calgary comes in at just under five hours. ER doctors say these numbers don't tell the whole story. 'For the really sick patients, that's the one that we should all be worried about—the sick patients that need to be admitted to hospital, they're spending much longer in our emergency departments, like talking days and all of that,' said Dr. Paul Parks, Medicine Hat emergency physician. 'All of those kinds of links and increasing numbers compound to affecting Albertans and affecting sick people coming in—we can't get the new sick people in, in a safe and timely manner.' A new report shows wait times at Alberta ERs aren't improving, but waits in southern Alberta ERs are lower on average than in Calgary and Edmonton. A new report shows wait times at Alberta ERs aren't improving, but waits in southern Alberta ERs are lower on average than in Calgary and Edmonton. At Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, the study found patients waited a median time of one hour and 54 minutes before seeing a doctor and a total of four hours per visit. In Medicine Hat, the wait time to see a doctor is one hour and 48 minutes, with a total visit time of three hours and 54 minutes. The study found emergency wait times are considerably lower in many small community health centres in southern Alberta. They are as low as 30 minutes to see a doctor in Bow Island, Crowsnest Pass and Fort Macleod. MEI submitted freedom of information requests to each province seeking information on wait times. Data for Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia was not available. The full MEI publication can be accessed online. A new report shows wait times at Alberta ERs aren't improving, but waits in southern Alberta ERs are lower on average than in Calgary and Edmonton. A new report shows wait times at Alberta ERs aren't improving, but waits in southern Alberta ERs are lower on average than in Calgary and Edmonton. The report puts Alberta ahead of most other provinces with available information. But it also says patients should expect better still. 'They're still faced with wait times that are abnormal in many developed countries, and it remains important to understand that, even within the province, wait times can vary tremendously,' said Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI. A spokesperson for the province's Ministry of Hospital and Surgical Health Services provided CTV News with a statement: 'Alberta's government remains committed to ensuring all Albertans have timely access to health care. As the MEI notes in its release, 'Despite the fact that Alberta performs better than most Canadian provinces, patients shouldn't be satisfied.' We agree—emergency department stays are still too long,' the province said. 'We're taking action to reduce wait times by adding hospital beds and expanding assisted-living capacity for patients waiting to transition to more appropriate care settings. We're also increasing the number of family physicians and investing in new urgent care centres across the province to ensure patients have alternatives when emergency care isn't required.' With files from Tyson Fedor
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Study paints grim picture of worsening wait times in northern Ont. ERs
The median patient spent about five and half hours at the ER before they were discharged from HSN. A new study by the Canadian think tank MEI says new approaches are needed to deal with growing wait times at hospital emergency departments across Canada. In particular, it suggests adopting a model used in France, where separate clinics are set up to deal with emergency cases that are not life and death, such as bone fractures, sprains and serious flu cases. The study looked at the median times it takes patients to be assessed by a physician, as well as how long people spend in the ER, from the time they arrive until they are discharged. Timmins hospital to benefit from new lottery Included was data from hospitals in northeastern Ontario, where Health Sciences North in Greater Sudbury reported the longest waits. The median patient spent about 5 ½ hours at the ER before they were discharged from HSN. Results from other major hospitals in the northeast include three hours, 45 minutes at Timmins & District Hospital; four hours, 40 minutes at Sault Area Hospital; and, four hours, 56 minutes at North Bay Regional Health Centre. The study also looked at the length of time it took to get an initial assessment from a doctor in the ER. Timmins again had the shortest time – one hour, 43 minutes – followed by the Sault (one hour, 56 minutes), North Bay (two hours, 16 minutes) and Sudbury (two hours, 23 minutes). Results for all hospitals in northern Ontario – and Canada – can be found here. Krystle Wittevrongel, MEI's director of research, said in an interview that Canada's system of funneling all emergency cases to the same community emergency departments is partly to blame for the ER bottlenecks plaguing the system. Krystle Wittevrongel Krystle Wittevrongel, MEI's director of research, said Canada's system of funneling all emergency cases to the same community emergency departments is partly to blame for the ER bottlenecks plaguing the system. (Photo from video) While we do a good job of addressing critical cases as they come in, people with non-life-threatening but emergency cases are often left to wait several hours for care. One option would be to adopt a model used in France where separate, middle-emergency clinics are set up to handle serious but not life-threatening cases. The clinics are a midway point between walk-in clinics that can't handle emergency cases and the overwhelmed emergency departments at hospitals. 'We tend to see a lot of patients going to the emergency room for care that might not need to be there,' Wittevrongel said. 'They might have a more minor injury like a sprain or a strain that isn't necessarily emergency care but is a little bit much for primary care (physicians).' Middle emergency clinics She said France has had great success with this model, which is a better allocation of existing resources. Similar to walk-in clinics, the middle care centres would be publicly funded but independently run by doctors and nurses. 'Rather than being the same as an urgent care centre like the Province of Ontario currently has, it's more community-focused and so there's also more localized decision-making, (offering) more flexibility for those doctors and nurses.' She said the median length of stay in northeastern Ont. ERs is four hours, 14 minutes, which shows the differences in factors such as the number of hospital beds and staffing levels. By creating a system of middle-emergency care centres, hospitals in the north could potentially ease the demand on existing staff, making it easier to retain people. Read more on MEI's study here.
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Alberta ER visits averaged nearly 4 hours last year, report finds
The entrance to the emergency department at Peter Lougheed hospital is pictured in, Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh Patients in Alberta's emergency rooms spent a median time of three hours and 48 minutes per visit last year. That's from a new report by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) that shows wait times in the emergency room have not improved over the past year and have become worse over the last five years. The median length of stay, which is from arrival to discharge, or admission has increased by 54 minutes in Alberta over the past five years. Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI, says that Alberta is faring better than some other provinces. 'Despite the fact that Alberta performs better than most Canadian provinces, patients shouldn't be satisfied,' she said. 'They're still faced with wait times that are abnormal in many developed countries, and it remains important to understand that, even within the province, wait times can vary tremendously.' The longest median emergency room stays in Alberta were in the Edmonton region at five hours and 54 minutes and the Calgary region at four hours and 42 minutes. But it was the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton that had the longest median visits provincially at eight hours and 30 minutes. Two other Edmonton hospitals rounded out the top three worst. Wittevrongel says that one Maritime province faired the best when it came to wait times. Newfoundland and Labrador reported the shortest median stay at two hours and 45 minutes, while Quebec had the longest at five hours and 23 minutes. 'In all the provinces, wait times are worse today than they were five years ago, a clear sign that our health-care systems are struggling to provide their patients with timely access to care,' said Wittevrongel. MEI submitted freedom of information requests to each province seeking information on wait times. Data for Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia was not available. The full MEI publication can be accessed online.
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
MyHealthNB adds new data tool to help patients estimate surgery wait times
MyHealthNB has introduced a new health system data tool to their website and mobile app. The new tool allows people to view the median wait times by surgical specialty and by facility across the province, a news release reads. The data is collected by using the time from when a patient is referred for surgery by a physician or specialist to when the surgery is completed. 'We're pleased to be giving New Brunswickers more access to information about wait times for various surgeons,' said Health Minister John Dornan. 'We believe that, by giving New Brunswickers more information about the health-care system, we will help them become more engaged with their own care.' The data is intended to help give people an estimate of how long they may wait for surgery. It may also help patients explore different options based on the wait times. However, it is important for people to remember that surgical cases are prioritized based on urgency, Doran said. Average wait times for each speciality and facility based on factors such as surgical capacity, case complexity and available resources. The new tool can be found under Health System Data on the MyHealthNB website or mobile app. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
