Several Ontario hospitals are warning of higher-than-usual patient volumes and longer wait times, particularly in their emergency rooms.
Niagara Health, Oak Valley Health’s Markham Stouffville Hospital and Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay are advising patients to consider alternatives to the emergency room if their condition is not urgent.
Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa announced earlier this week that occupancy was at 115 per cent. Thirty-five patients were admitted to the emergency room waiting for a bed and another 70 people were waiting to be treated.
The Canadian Medical Association says many emergency rooms across the country are overcrowded and IIt calls on provincial governments to step up Efforts to address the crisis, with a particular focus on access to quality, team-based primary care.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles says the provincial government should do more to bolster health care staffing levels, such as capping nursing agency salaries to end the poaching of hospital nurses.
A spokeswoman for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones says Ontario leads the country with some of the shortest wait times in Canada and is spending billions of dollars to further reduce them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2024.
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