Toddler waits hours for care as CHEO tops Ontario ER average

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When Ryan St-Jean’s 18-month-old son, Marcus, had a respiratory infection in October 2024, the “expected longest wait” time posted at CHEO was 16.5 hours.

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St-Jean was at least prepared, packing a change of clothes, food, snacks and toys. From previous experiences — and they’d had several CHEO visits together over the last year — the fastest time Marcus ever had for a first assessment was eight hours, back when he was nine months old, for another respiratory infection.

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But a typical wait is about 14 hours, St-Jean says, except for that one time they were rushed in for critical care.

“It’s stressful to be holding your kid in a hospital, waiting for treatment,” St-Jean said. “They just need to staff more doctors to keep up with the demand.”

But the father’s long night spent trying to keep a sick child entertained in a waiting room is hardly unique.

Out of 127 hospitals analyzed in Ontario, Ottawa’s children’s hospital ranked number one for the longest emergency room wait times.

According to Health Quality Ontario, CHEO’s average wait time for a first assessment by a doctor in the emergency room is 4.3 hours. By comparison, The Ottawa Hospital keeps patients waiting for 3.5 hours and the Queensway-Carleton Hospital has 3.9 hours, on average.

Patients admitted for less urgent health issues spent on average 6.1 hours in CHEO’s emergency rooms.

Tammy DeGiovanni, CHEO’s senior vice-president of clinical services and chief nursing executive, said the emergency department was only built for 150 patients, but was now averaging 200 kids a day. CHEO started calling on more clinics outside the hospital to divert less-urgent patients to help with demand, but it hasn’t decreased the high volume of patients in the emergency room.

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“It’s all about flow through the department, and so trying to make sure that at every level we’re as efficient as we can,” DeGiovanni said.

But wait times have only exacerbated during this year’s viral season, with an increase in respiratory illnesses, such as the flu, RSV and COVID-19.

“We always see an increase in our emergency volumes at this time of year,” she said. “It can really impact those (who are) very young and those with other complex illnesses.”

This season has been especially trying on hospitals due to a “mind-boggling” number of pneumonia cases among children, teens and young adults, according to Perth emergency physician Dr. Alan Drummond.

Meanwhile, as more children are showing up at CHEO’s doors, DeGiovanni said CHEO the hospital hired more nurse practitioners and physician assistants to go along with several medical directives set in the emergency department. She said the hospital had its “core shifts” covered, but, through additional funding, would like to add more shifts and staff to provide more care.

“Our physician team is really stepping up to the plate and doing additional (work), above and beyond,” DeGiovanni said. “We know that we need to grow that team, though, and that’s one of the things we’re talking to the ministry about.”

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In July 2023, the Ford government announced it would invest $330 million annually for expanding pediatric services.

While this funding has helped with urgent care visits, the need is greater within local communities, says Kimberly McMillan, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa.

“We’re seeing a symptom of a much larger problem in health care,” McMillan said. “We don’t have the community services that these kids and families need. There’s no funding there, there’s no incentive to work in primary care for physicians.

“Sometimes (emergency rooms) become like a point of entry to the care system.”

McMillan says CHEO is responsible for children in a large geographical area, which will increase demand for health services and “foster widespread burnout” among employees.

“We have so many kids that are waiting to be seen, but we don’t have the physical capacity to see them in a timely fashion,” McMillan added.

Ryan St-Jean and his son, meanwhile, were at least rewarded for their patience in October. As the night dragged on, and the waiting room crowd slowly thinned out, little Marcus was finally called to see a doctor at 3 a.m.

The wait time turned out to be a new personal record for the duo: only seven hours.

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