ER visits: 15 per cent in Canada are for non-emergencies, says report [Video]

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 …