New CIHI data shows Manitoba ER wait times among the worst in Canada

New numbers show Manitoba is near the top of the country when it comes to waiting for care in emergency rooms.

The data, released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, shows nine out of 10 Manitobans who go to the ER and are discharged spend between 13 to 19 hours waiting before being able to be sent home. That range of times is the longest in the country.

The total is also up from five years ago, when patients spent seven to 11 hours waiting before going home.

Those who actually get admitted to hospital from the ER spend nearly 59 hours waiting to get a bed, the third longest time in the country and up from a 37-hour wait five years ago.

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Keir Johnson of Doctors Manitoba says the solution to fixing this is actually outside the emergency room.

“We need more hospital beds so that we can get people stuck in emergency taking up the space that’s not available to the people in the wait room, let’s get them into an inpatient bed,” Johnson said.

“Let’s get more people family doctors, so many of these issues may be treated earlier when they’re less complicated and never require a trop to the emergency department.”

Global News has reached out the provincial government, but has yet to receive a response.

Since being elected nearly a year ago, the NDP has gone on several health care listening tours to different facilities around the province.

But Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson says they have no idea what’s come out of those yet.

“We know there’s listening tours being held, we know that staff are attending them,” Jackson said. “However, I have no idea, we have not been aware of anything that’s come out of the listening tours or if any initiative or solution has been brought forward by this government.”