ER doctor challenges Alberta premier to come on shift, see patients wait in hallways

Lisa Johnson · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jul 07, 2025 4:37 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

The caput of exigency medicine for Alberta's doctors relation is challenging Premier Danielle Smith to articulation him connected displacement to spot the vexation of patients jammed for hours successful hallways and the motivation wounded of doctors looking into the eyes of the those who wait.

"It's this benignant of vicarious trauma, this inability to assistance erstwhile we're helpers, that is causing america to leave," Dr. Warren Thirsk said successful an interview.

"Unless you acquisition it, you don't truly get it.

"When the premier has a wellness emergency, bash you deliberation she's going to beryllium successful my waiting country and hold 13 hours to beryllium seen?

"I would situation her to travel and beryllium successful my waiting country for 13 hours."

Thirsk made the comments successful the aftermath of a caller survey measuring patients' experiences released precocious past week by the Alberta Medical Association, which represents the province's physicians.

Thirsk is the association's caput of exigency medicine and works successful the exigency ward of Edmonton's downtown Royal Alexandra Hospital.

He said erstwhile helium arrived for a caller 6 a.m. shift, the hallway was already afloat of patients brought successful by ambulance the nighttime before. Some had been waiting 14 hours.

He remembers 1 diligent with a breached hep had been determination 4 hours and needed an operation.

This 1 had to beryllium treated first.

"When I looked aft that diligent successful the hallway with a breached hip, I had to look into the eyes of the different 13 radical down that hallway who each watched maine locomotion up to 1 idiosyncratic and not them," Thirsk said.

"I person the haunted stares of each different idiosyncratic who's looking astatine me, saying, `Why aren't you successful beforehand [helping] me?"'

The hep diligent was seen and admitted into the hospital, helium said, but past had to hold different six hours successful the hallway earlier being moved.

Thirsk said he's seeing a inclination of expanding hold times successful a strategy that can't support up with a provincial colonisation present adjacent to 5 million.

He said helium is besides seeing frustration, with patients yet giving up the exigency country hold and walking retired the door, perchance making their information worse.

"They mightiness travel backmost the adjacent day, oregon they travel backmost by ambulance, adjacent sicker," helium said.

The association's survey was taken by conscionable implicit 1,100 Albertans. It cannot beryllium assigned a borderline of mistake due to the fact that online surveys are not considered random samples. The survey suggests that successful the past year, astir 1 successful 5 patients waiting for exigency attraction gave up the hold and walked retired instead.

Dr. Shelley Duggan, the association's president, labelled the numbers "disturbing" and attributed them to galore factors: deficiency of specialists; patients near successful infirmary due to the fact that of nary country successful continuing care; and not capable household doctors.

"It's a precise analyzable contented — it's not conscionable 1 elemental fix," Duggan said successful an interview.

Duggan said their survey reflects nationalist challenges that aren't unsocial to Alberta, and though astir patients are satisfied with their attraction erstwhile they tin get it, entree present remains a "huge problem."

The Alberta authorities disputes the survey's numbers, saying they don't bespeak broader wellness data. The state says the percent of those leaving the ER without being seen is astir 10 per cent successful Alberta's apical 16 hospitals.

Kyle Warner, property caput to Hospital Services Minister Matt Jones, said lone 2 hospitals saw 1 successful 5 patients leaving the ER early.

"Delays successful Alberta's ED are shorter than successful different ample provinces and we are 1 of the apical performers successful the state — but that's inactive not bully enough," Warner said successful an emailed statement.

"We cognize determination is much enactment to do, and we proceed to absorption connected recruitment."

Numbers published by Health Quality Alberta, the bureau that gathers information for the province, amusement the fig of radical who permission earlier being seen varies depending connected the hospital. At Royal Alexandra Hospital, it was arsenic precocious arsenic astir 22 per cent per cent of patients past fall.

At Foothills Medical Centre successful Calgary, the mean was 8 per cent.

But crossed the board, that fig has crept higher than it was successful 2020, adjacent successful medium-sized municipality hospitals similar Northern Lights Regional successful Fort McMurray, wherever the mean was 5.6 per cent precocious past year.

NDP Opposition wellness professional Sarah Hoffman said successful a connection it's unacceptable that truthful galore Albertans are without a household doc and that exigency country hold times stay dangerously high.

"Despite a committedness to amended the system, Danielle Smith's UCP authorities has lone deepened the chaos," said Hoffman.