Emergency room wait times: 86% increase in patients leaving ER without seeing a doctor

If you’ve ever waited all day in an emergency room (ER) and then left without having seen a doctor, you are not alone.

In fact, according to the findings of a Freedom of Information request from the BC Conservatives, the number of people emerging from emerg without having been medically examined has shot up 86% over the last seven years.

The Conservatives said data show 141,961 British Columbians left emergency rooms in the fiscal year 2024 (April 1, 2024-March 31, 2025) without ever having been seen. That’s up from 76,157 in 2018/19, the party said.

“These aren’t just numbers; they’re lives,” said Brennan Day, MLA for Courtenay–Comox. “That’s 141,961 people who turned to the system in a moment of crisis and were turned away by a government that simply isn’t listening.”

The Conservatives said it’s the highest number of unscheduled ER visits ending without care ever recorded in this province.

The Ministry of Health countered by saying BC is experiencing higher emergency department (ED) volumes and higher acuity patients in hospitals—just like the rest of the country.

It said the number of patients who leave the ED without being seen is a small proportion of the total number of visits to the emergency department, and in general, patients with lower acuity levels are more likely to leave the hospital without seeing a doctor.

“If a person feels they no longer need to wait, they should let the triage nurse know that they are leaving,” the ministry said in an email to Capital Daily.

“Health-care staff will reassess their condition and confirm whether they are okay to go (i.e., if someone has chest pain, they generally would be suggested not to leave).”

The ministry said it understands the wait time challenge and has worked on speeding things up by increasing the number of provincially funded acute-care beds to 9,929 from 9,202.

The province is also recruiting doctors and nurses and recently cut some red tape so US doctors can more quickly obtain their credentials to practise here.

Island Health tops the list, Conservatives say

The BC Conservative Caucus points to Island Health having the biggest increase among the province's health authorities in the number of patients running out of patience and then walkingout of the hospital.

It said that in 2024/25, 29,997 unscheduled emergency visits concluded with the patient receiving zero care from a doctor, compared with 11,513 in 2018/19—an increase of 160%.

“That’s nearly 30,000 people—someone’s parent, child, neighbour, or friend—who walked into an Island Health ER and left empty-handed,” said Day.

The Conservatives said overcrowding has been a problem at BC EDs for years, as have staffing shortages and long wait times. They blame the NDP government for not doing enough to shorten the wait and call for:

• Emergency investments to stabilize nurse and physician staffing in Island Health
• Immediate regional oversight and accountability measures
• An independent audit of ER capacity, staffing, and wait time transparency

“ERs don’t need more spin or empty announcements,” Day said. “They need doctors; they need nurses; and they need a government willing to lead before more lives are lost.”