TORONTO: Canadian hospital emergency departments are under sustained strain as rising patient volumes, bed shortages and staffing gaps push waits for some patients past 20 hours and intensify scrutiny after recent deaths linked to prolonged delays. National data released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information show more than 16.1 million unscheduled emergency visits in 2024-25, up from nearly 15.5 million a year earlier, highlighting the pressure on hospitals as emergency rooms absorb heavier demand across multiple provinces.
The national figures also show a sharp divide between patients who are treated and discharged and those who need to be admitted. CIHI said nine in 10 emergency visits ending in discharge were completed within 8.0 hours in 2024-25, while nine in 10 visits ending in admission took up to 48.5 hours. The Canadian Medical Association has said some emergency departments have recently reported average waits for hospital beds as high as 22 hours, underscoring how access to inpatient beds has become a central bottleneck.
In Ontario, the most recent publicly accessible provincewide benchmark, covering August 2024 and displayed on an Ontario Health page updated in January 2026, shows patients admitted through emergency departments spent an average of 19.2 hours in emergency care, and only 27% were admitted within the eight-hour target. The same page shows patients waited an average of two hours for a first assessment, while lower-acuity patients not admitted spent 3.2 hours in emergency and higher-acuity patients not admitted spent 4.7 hours.
Provincial data show strain
Quebec’s live emergency-room dashboard offered another snapshot of the pressure on March 14, showing 1,145 people waiting to see a doctor, 3,313 people in emergency rooms overall and stretcher occupancy at 101%. The province reported an average waiting-room time of 4 hours 39 minutes from the previous day and an average stretcher wait of 16 hours 58 minutes. At Montreal’s Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, stretcher occupancy stood at 129% and the average stretcher wait was 17 hours 24 minutes.
Attention has also focused on Alberta after Acute Care Alberta released 16 recommendations on March 12 following a quality assurance review into the death of 44-year-old Prashant Sreekumar at Edmonton’s Grey Nuns Community Hospital on Dec. 22, 2025. His family said he waited nearly eight hours in the emergency department after arriving with chest pain. Acute Care Alberta said the review identified improvements needed at both the hospital and across the provincial acute-care system to help prevent similar outcomes.
System bottlenecks deepen risks
Research has also pointed to the dangers that can grow when patients leave before receiving care. ICES said in a December 2024 study that Ontario adults who left an emergency department without being seen in 2022-23 faced a 14% higher risk of death or hospitalization within seven days, with an elevated risk persisting at 30 days. The findings added statistical support to warnings from emergency physicians that long waits can turn delayed assessment and treatment into a broader patient-safety problem.
Health system leaders and physician groups have tied the pressure to a mix of high demand, limited inpatient capacity, staffing shortages and delayed discharge pathways that leave admitted patients waiting in emergency departments for hospital beds. Ontario Health issued operational direction in February aimed at improving repatriation and inter-facility transfers, while Alberta’s review called for more staffing, expanded emergency space and stronger accountability. Together, the latest national and provincial data show Canadian emergency rooms remain under acute pressure, with capacity limits continuing to shape how quickly patients receive care. – By Content Syndication Services.