A new report by Health Quality Ontario suggests Ontario residents waited on average at least 114 minutes, or one hour and 54 minutes, to be assessed by an emergency room doctor in April.
Average wait times fluctuated throughout the pandemic, according to the data.
Amid the third wave of COVID-19 in April 2021, the average wait time was around 1.3 hours and was the lowest on the graph. In August 2021 and November 2021 wait times reached 1.9 hours, which was also reported in April of this year as we move into post-pandemic life.
The data also broke down wait times by hospitals across the province.
The hospital with the worst ER wait time to first see a doctor is in Windsor — Windsor Regional Hospital – Metropolitan Campus at a five-hour wait time.
Tied for second at 3.5 hours is Hawkesbury And District General Hospital near Ottawa and Halton Healthcare Services Corporation – Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital.
Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre came in at a 3.3 hour wait time.
According to the data, the hospital with the best ER wait time to get seen by a doctor is Southlake Regional Centre in Newmarket and William Osler Health System – Peel Memorial Center in Brampton at 0.6 hours, or 36 minutes.
The report also indicated the average length of stay for patients for a visit. Those who went to the emergency room with low-urgent needs, and who were not admitted to the hospital, waited three hours. Seventy-six per cent of patients finished their emergency visit within a target time of four hours, the data noted.
Those who were there with high-urgency spent an average of 4.5 hours for their visit and 90 per cent of patients finished their emergency visit within a target time of 8 hours.
And patients who were admitted to hospital spent an average of 20 hours for their stay.