These five hospitals have the longest ER wait times in Alberta
A new report has revealed some lengthy wait times patients faced in some hospital emergency rooms across Alberta last year.
The report is from the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), an independent public policy think tank, which examined the total length of stay and the time to physician initial assessment across several Canadian provinces.
Data was available for the fiscal year 2024-2025 in the following provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec.
The average length of stay in Alberta clocked in at three hours and 48 minutes, while the time to physician from initial assessment coming in at an hour and a half.
The longest median emergency room stays in Alberta were in the Edmonton region (five hours and 54 minutes) and the Calgary region (four hours and 42 minutes).
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The five emergency room hospitals in Alberta with the longest wait times were as follows:
5. Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre in the Central region with a seven-hour wait time
4. Foothills Medical Centre in the Calgary region with a seven-hour and 12-minute wait time
3. Royal Alexandra Hospital in the Edmonton region with a seven-hour and 42-minute wait time
2. Misericordia Community Hospital in the Edmonton region with a seven-hour and 54-minute wait time
1. University of Alberta Hospital in the Edmonton region with an eight-and-a-half hour wait time
Overall, the study found that patients in Quebec spend the longest overall time in the emergency room. The worst trend, however, was seen in Prince Edward Island, where patients now wait more than twice as long as they used to for a physician’s initial assessment and spend over 50 per cent longer in the emergency room compared with just five years ago.
“Despite the fact that Alberta performs better than most Canadian provinces, patients shouldn’t be satisfied, as they’re still faced with wait times that are abnormal in many developed countries,” said Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI and contributor to the report.
“And it remains important to understand that, even within the province, wait times can vary tremendously. Having to spend long hours waiting in an emergency room may be the norm in Alberta, but in other developed countries, it isn’t.”
You can view the full report online.