Fifteen per cent of ER visits in Canada are not for emergencies: report

One in seven emergency room visits across Canada are for issues that could have been dealt with elsewhere, according to a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

“Locally, I would say it's definitely higher,” said Dr. Margaret Fraser, who works at the often-overcrowded emergency room at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney, N.S.

Fraser said the majority of non-emergency visits her department deals with are from people who can't be seen anywhere else.

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“Often, even if you do have a family physician, they can't see you in a timely fashion,” she said. "So, it might be three or four weeks before you see them for the issue that you have and so a lot of people end up in the emergency department for non-emergent conditions."

“We found also quite a high rate among people who live in rural and remote populations,” said Sunita Karmakar-Hore, a spokesperson for the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

While data for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick wasn't complete, Prince Edward Island's numbers were actually a bit better than the one-in-seven national average.

Nationwide, the highest number of ER visits that could have been seen elsewhere – nearly 26 per cent – involved children.

“This is telling us that parents are really struggling to have their children seen in a timely way,” Karmakar-Hore said.

On Thursday, the Nova Scotia Health Authority announced its registry of people in need of a family practice dropped by more than 12,000 people between Nov. 7 and Nov. 27.

However, more than 11 per cent of Nova Scotians are still in need of primary care.

Fraser added, too often, the emergency room becomes a catch-all for matters that began elsewhere in the health-care system.

“Things tend to roll downhill,” Fraser said. "And the very bottom of the hill is the emergency department."

The report's authors are reminding people to look into the availability of walk-in clinics and urgent treatment centres - along with virtual care - before going to the emergency room.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.