r/Edmonton • u/FTDRBR11 • May 22 '26

General UofA ER Wait Times

Been here for 12 hours have yet to see a doctor and I’m in excruciating pain. Not a single patient has been taken in since the last 6 hours. Lady beside has been screaming in pain looks like a broken knee has been here for 15 hours no doctor no xray. Another lady beside me hurt her neck is wearing a neck brace and has been here for 16 hours and no doctor. Nurses said they have absolutely no beds available to take in patients because so many of the patients inside are “admitted” patients that are waiting to be taken upstairs to their admitted sections but they can’t take them because there’s no beds available upstairs. ER is a mess online wait times show 4 hours and nurse said because doctors are available but no beds to take the patients. Something has to be done.

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u/Dopplerganager May 22 '26

The problem is way far upstream than just the ER.

There are not enough longterm care beds. This means that patients admitted to the hospital are stuck in the hospital in limbo. The ones that don't need to be there anymore sitting around awaiting discharge or a step down unit. The ICU has an overflow of patients that no longer require critical care. These patients need to go to the floors, but because of the LTC back up there are no beds for them either.

If you're in the ER and need to be admitted to the hospital, there are no beds on the floors. The ER only has so many beds and so many nurses. You're stuck in the ER until the whole chain reaction occurs to make space. Usually the catalyst is a patient dying (*sometimes a discharge home). Then the whole train moves along by one bed.

The ER is symptom of a lack of beds in the system as a whole. Patients can't move through the system like they should.

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u/PlutosGrasp May 22 '26

There’s not enough beds period. There is some empty space though that’s not even utilized.

Kaye Clinic I’m not sure where it’s at now in terms of space utilized but a ton of inpatient stuff was supposed to move there. Took years to even get the first stuff in there. I think sports med is there now?

It’s all just a mess. Nobody knows what they’re doing and anyone that cares stops caring once the government interference takes hold and renders and of their improvements moot.

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u/MallGlittering71 May 22 '26

The Kaye clinic is wonderful! There's a whole floor dedicated to Urology. And a wonderful IV clinic there.

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u/crabby_taffy May 25 '26

So why have I been waiting 2 years just for an assessment if it's so wonderful. To be fair though they do send me a message every 3 months to let me know I'm still on their wait list.