Provincial information obtained via a freedom-of-information request reveals that the variety of sufferers in B.C. leaving emergency rooms with out receiving care has spiked by 86 per cent — with the most important will increase seen within the Fraser Well being and Vancouver Island Well being authorities.
The info reveals the variety of unscheduled visits to emergency rooms throughout B.C.’s well being authorities between 2018 and 2025, and breaks down affected person visits by their Canadian triage and acuity scale (CTAS) — a system used to categorize sufferers based mostly on the urgency of their case.
It additionally contains one other class of sufferers titled: Left With out Being Seen (LWBS).
Based on the numbers compiled by the B.C. Ministry of Well being, in the 2018-2019 fiscal 12 months, 76,157 sufferers in B.C. left emergency rooms with out receiving care.
By 2024-2025, that quantity grew to 141,961.
When damaged down by well being authority, the numbers present that, in some areas, circumstances of LWBs worsened considerably prior to now two years. Throughout B.C., the variety of sufferers that left emergency rooms with out receiving care grew 18 per cent between 2023 and 2025.
‘Considerably outdoors acceptable vary’
The Vancouver Island Well being Authority noticed a very massive improve in sufferers who left earlier than they obtained care, with 11,513 circumstances recorded in 2018-2019, 20,925 circumstances recorded in 2023-2024, and 29,997 circumstances recorded in 2024-2025. That represents progress of 160 per cent over seven years.
An Island Well being authority doc on efficiency measures printed in January 2025 mentioned that whereas the authority’s goal for LWBs is 2 per cent, it was at present seeing 7.3 per cent of sufferers go away earlier than seeing a doctor.
“As of November 2024, Island Well being was not assembly the goal for this measure,” says the doc.
“Efficiency is considerably outdoors acceptable vary.”
The doc says that “sometimes, individuals who search care at Emergency Departments are registered and obtain a triage evaluation from a nurse, however then they go away the Emergency Division (ED) earlier than seeing a doctor.”
“If an individual sought care at an ED, however left earlier than seeing a doctor, it’s potential they didn’t obtain the care they wanted.”
The doc additionally notes the components contributing to the excessive charge, noting “elevated Emergency arrivals and inpatients being held in an Emergency location contribute to crowding and longer wait occasions to see a doctor. When Emergency visits and crowding improve, the speed worsens [increases].”
The inhabitants served by Island Well being grew by 11 per cent between 2018 and 2024, in accordance with Statistics Canada.
Within the Fraser Well being Authority, the most important well being authority in B.C., there have been 34,678 LWBs recorded in 2018-2019.
That quantity jumped to 55,415 in 2023-2024, and spiked to 64,972 in 2024-2025, representing total progress of 87 per cent.
Fraser Well being’s inhabitants additionally grew by round 4.6 per cent throughout that point, in accordance with B.C. Stats. The inhabitants within the well being authority is predicted to develop by 32 per cent over the following 15 years.
The Vancouver Coastal Well being Authority recorded 13,353 LWBs in 2018-2019, as much as 21,475 in 2023-2024, and a slight dip to twenty,898 in 2024-2025.
CBC Information has contacted the B.C. Ministry of Well being for remark.
In an announcement, B.C.’s opposition Conservatives known as the figures “devastating.”
Information backs affected person tales
The info comes after a collection of high-profile tales about deteriorating circumstances in B.C. emergency rooms, that described prolonged wait occasions, undignified circumstances for sufferers and their households, and violent assaults towards medical employees.
Emergency room doctor Kaitlin Stockton launched an explosive lawsuit towards the Fraser Well being Authority in June, alleging her job was threatened after she tried to warn sufferers of “unacceptable” wait occasions.
Two nurses in the identical well being authority additionally got here ahead detailing brutal assaults they are saying they suffered by the hands of sufferers whereas working in B.C. emergency rooms.
In an interview with CBC following the 2 tales, Well being Minister Josie Osborne mentioned that sufferers with probably the most crucial wants are seen first, which ends up in longer wait occasions for much less pressing circumstances. She mentioned the province is at present enterprise a overview of each well being authority in B.C.
In an announcement, Docs of BC, which represents over 16,000 physicians, residents, and medical college students, mentioned it “has been calling for the creation of an emergency division stabilization plan for a while.”
“Doctor shortages are additionally impacting emergency departments, and up to date efforts to recruit U.S. physicians and the brand new SFU medical faculty are actually useful, however extra must be carried out to recruit and retain physicians, nurses, and different health-care professionals to satisfy the wants of sufferers,” it reads.
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