Long ER waiting times fuel frustration in Alberta as hospitals strain across Canada

Long wait times and hospital overcrowding are just two of the issues facing Alberta residents seeking healthcare. Kathy Le reports.

Long waits, staffing shortages and overcrowded emergency rooms are fuelling growing frustration in Alberta, concerns that reflect mounting pressure on hospitals across the country.

Doctors and advocates gathered with members of the public and healthcare workers at a town hall in Calgary on Saturday, one of several events being held across Alberta to give people a chance to share their experiences and concerns about the state of the healthcare system.

“You see the wait times. You see it when you walk into the hospital,” Nolan O’Brien, a Calgary nurse who attended the event said.

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Retd. nurse Beverley Fauchon said front-line staff are stretched thin.

“Everybody is so rushed and so short-staffed and so overworked,” Fauchon said.

The town halls are being organized by Friends of Medicare as part of a broader provincial tour aimed at fostering public discussion about health-care pressures and potential solutions.

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“We want people to share their stories and their questions and then talk about what we can do together about it,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare.

Concerns about emergency department wait times and hospital capacity have intensified following the death of 44-year-old Prashant Sreekumar, on Dec. 22 after waiting about eight hours in an Edmonton emergency room.

“That people shouldn’t be dying in an ER anywhere in Canada,” O’Brien said.

“A lot of people think we’re a first-world country with top-notch health care, so when something like this happens, it’s shocking.”

While the focus at Saturday’s event was Alberta, national data suggests similar pressures are being felt coast to coast.

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the number of reported unscheduled emergency department visits rose to more than 16.1 million in the 2024–2025 fiscal year, up from nearly 15.5 million the year before.

CIHI data also show that patients admitted to hospital spent significantly longer in emergency departments than those discharged home. In 2024–2025, nine out of 10 admitted patients completed their emergency department stay within 48.5 hours and for those who were discharged, it was eight hours.

Emergency physician Dr. Paul Parks said the trends point to broader system-level challenges.

“Workforce planning, capacity building and prioritizing (are) what we should be doing and delivering for Canadians. All provinces are failing on that,” he said.

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In Alberta, physicians have called on the province to declare a state of emergency in response to overcrowding. The United Conservative Party government has acknowledged that hospitals are under extreme pressure, due to the influenza season, but says it can manage without declaring one.

Premier Danielle Smith pointed to signs of improvement during her weekend radio show, citing a decline in respiratory illnesses.

“We’re only about 400 people in hospital with respiratory viruses, and we’re beginning to see emergency room treatment beds freeing up,” Smith said.

The province has also announced new measures, including the creation of a physician role to help triage patients in emergency departments.

Still, many attendees at the town hall said they worry recent policy decisions could worsen pressures on public hospitals.

Gallaway said the government’s move to expand the role of private surgical facilities under Bill 11 has heightened concerns about the emergence of a two-tier health-care system.

“Since the tabling of Bill 11, it’s really amplified the concerns Albertans are having,” he said.

“People are asking, ‘I didn’t vote for that. It wasn’t in a platform. Is that where we’re going?’”

Calgarian James Lee said many feel the government has not moved quickly enough to address front-line strain.

“People are feeling abandoned,” he said.

“They promised new hospitals, but there are no new hospitals being built.”