More than 20 per cent of patients have left Royal Alexandra Hospital’s ER without being seen so far this year, show provincial numbers, a sign that the city’s hospitals are under strain, one local emergency doctor says. Read More
’Lying there for 13 or more hours overnight with your broken hip is not a functioning healthcare system; It’s unconscionable’
‘Lying there for 13 or more hours overnight with your broken hip is not a functioning healthcare system; It’s unconscionable’
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More than 20 per cent of patients have left Royal Alexandra Hospital’s ER without being seen so far this year, show provincial numbers, a sign that the city’s hospitals are under strain, one local emergency doctor says.
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According to data obtained by Postmedia, 21.2 per cent of patients at the central Edmonton Royal Alex left without being seen (LWBS) in 2025, nearly double the provincial average. The University of Alberta hospital’s LWBS rate is 17 per cent in 2025.
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Warren Thirsk, emergency medicine president of the AMA who is also an ER doctor at the Royal Alex, says he has had shifts where all beds were full, and he’s been seeing patients in the ambulance hallway.
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“We know what’s the problem. We know they’re broken. I can tell from across the room they need a quick X-ray to confirm for surgical planning, they need to be admitted, they need their pain controlled because everything hurts,” he said.
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“You can’t get out of bed, you can’t go to the bathroom, a broken hip prevents it. Lying there for 13 or more hours overnight with your broken hip is not a functioning health-care system; it’s unconscionable.
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“The system is getting less funding per capita and less of everything. And we’re always being told, ‘Do less with more. We’ll cut fat from the system.’
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“There’s lots of games that happen as a stressed system finds ways to make itself look better.”
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For example, ambulances in the off-load area are no longer counted as part of the waiting room, he said.
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In a statement, Hospital and Surgical Health Services Minister Matt Jones pointed to a provincial LWBS average of 11.15 per cent, but did acknowledge Edmonton’s total rate is 15.9 per cent.
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“We acknowledge that hospitals in the Edmonton Corridor generally have higher LWBS rates than the provincial average, with the exception of Sturgeon Community Hospital and the Stollery Children’s Hospital, which are both below the provincial average,” Jones said.
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For his part, Thirsk said he feels it’s important to disaggregate numbers at Edmonton’s higher-traffic hospitals from hospitals with lower wait times.
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“The front lines are disconnected. What we see and what everyone says that we see are different, and that’s really difficult to be told,” said Thirsk, who is also an associate professor at the University of Alberta.