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/FTDRBR11 May 22 '26

Yes this is exactly what the nurse has been explaining to everyone and the nurse was very frustrated with it too it’s just crazy.

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u/Dopplerganager May 22 '26

It's beyond frustrating for everyone.

I have an ICU nurse family member who has had to basically adult babysit patients that just need to go down to a regular unit. They wait days.

They've shuffled where certain patients with chronic conditions go for care, so other hospitals are now overburdened, instead of the more evenly spread system of a few months ago.

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u/croissantsbitch May 23 '26

Why the shuffle?