report finds 1 in 7 visits to emergency rooms in canada could be handled by family doctors

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the report underscores the urgent need to transform the way patients connect with healthcare providers, addressing issues like technology literacy in the growing senior population and the need for more virtual patient testing and procedures.

by karen hawthorne

published dec 06, 2024

last updated feb 20, 2025

2 minute read

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2 minute read

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cihi also points out that 5.4 million canadian adults say that they don’t have regular access to primary care. the problem is two-fold: many people don’t have family doctors and others who need care after hours and head to the er. getty images

wait times in canadian emergency departments can be three to four hours or more, meaning there must be some disconnect in the healthcare system. half of patients with non-urgent issues spend less than 2.6 hours in the er, but 90 per cent spend up to 7.6 hours, according to the canadian institute for health information (cihi).

the institute has released a new report that reveals one in seven – or 15 per cent – of visits to ers between april 2023 and march 2024 were for conditions that could have been managed by a family doctor.

“when access to a regular care provider is challenging, people often turn to emergency departments to receive the care they need,” sunita karmakar-hore, cihi manager of health system performance reporting, said in a news release. “there they face long wait times without the benefit of seeing a family doctor who knows them and their health history.”

further, as the report shows, of the 15 per cent of visits to the er that could have been handled by a family doctor, over half – or 9 per cent – were for conditions that could have been managed virtually. and children make up a significant percent of visits where primary care would be a more appropriate fit: those age two to nine represented 26 per cent of those visits, much higher than other age groups.

the report underscores the urgent need to transform the way patients connect with healthcare providers, addressing issues like technology literacy in the growing senior population and the need for more virtual patient testing and procedures. for example, phd student david black at the university of british columbia in vancouver has developed a virtual ultrasound tool.

as cihi notes, the results provide a baseline measure for monitoring access to primary care and tracking improvement. the report was developed with two new indicator tools designed to help healthcare system leaders and policymakers measure and improve access to both primary and virtual care. these new indicators are:

visits to the emergency department for conditions that could be managed in primary care
visits to the emergency department for conditions that could be managed virtually in primary care

the indicator results are available in the your health system: in depth web tool at the provincial, territorial and regional levels.

karen hawthorne

karen hawthorne worked for six years as a digital editor for the national post, contributing articles on health, business, culture and travel for affiliated newspapers across canada. she now writes from her home office in toronto and takes breaks to bounce with her son on the backyard trampoline and walk bingo, her bull terrier.

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report finds 1 in 7 visits to emergency rooms in canada could be handled by family doctors

the report underscores the urgent need to transform the way patients connect with healthcare providers, addressing issues like technology literacy in the growing senior population and the need for more virtual patient testing and procedures.

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