By Kathy Le
CTV News
Published: June 25, 2026
CALGARY – A new report suggests the causes of Canada’s long emergency department wait times often lie far beyond the emergency room itself, with shortages in hospital beds, long-term care and community supports creating a bottleneck that is leaving some patients waiting days for care.
“This is a national problem. Every province is struggling with this,” said Dr. Paul Parks, president-elect of the Alberta Medical Association and an emergency physician.
The report, released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, found that one in 10 emergency department patients — about 1.5 million people — spent more than 14 hours in the emergency room in 2024-25.
Patients requiring admission to hospital faced the longest waits. One in 10 admitted patients, which equates to around 180,000 people, spent more than 48 hours in the emergency department waiting for an inpatient bed.
“It has been a struggle for a long time, but it’s gradually getting worse and worse, and this absolutely reflects what we’re seeing,” Parks said.
“We’ve been calling a state of emergency and state of crisis, and saying our emergency departments are no longer functioning the way they should.”
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