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last mo.

B.C. ER Walkouts Surpass 142,000 as Opposition Presses Government

The Ministry of Health emphasizes that triage order ensures the sickest patients are never turned away.

Island Health issued a statement saying it was working on several initiatives to address ER wait times at Victoria ­General Hospital.
Emergency Room doctors at Kelowna General Hospital say the pediatric ward closure will have a profound impact.

Overview

  • Between 2018/19 and 2024/25 nearly 142,000 patients left B.C. emergency departments without being seen, an 86 per cent increase revealed by ministry records obtained by the BC Conservatives.
  • Island Health recorded a 160 per cent rise in ER walkouts while Interior Health logged a 55 per cent increase over the same period.
  • Opposition MLAs Brennan Day and Gavin Dew warn that shuttered walk-in clinics and a shortage of family physicians are funneling non-urgent cases into crowded emergency rooms.
  • The ministry reports that walkouts account for a small percentage of ER visits and recommends that patients alert triage nurses before departing to ensure it is safe.
  • Provincial officials cite a November 2023 investment in acute care beds and ongoing physician recruitment as measures to expand capacity and reduce wait times.