The wait to see an ER doctor at Langley Memorial Hospital (LMH) is better than the B.C. average, according to new statistics from the Fraser Health Authority (FHA).
The figures, covering a 10-month period from November of 2013 to August of 2014, were released by the FHA in response to a Times request.
Over that period, the average wait time before seeing a doctor in the LMH ER was 2.4 hours, which is below the B.C. average wait time of 2.5 hours and the Canadian average wait of 3.2 hours.
Only once, in January, did the LMH ER exceed the B.C. average, and not by much, posting a 2.7 hour average wait to see an ER doctor.
The LMH numbers are better than the busy Surrey Memorial Hospital ER, which reports an average wait of 3.4 hours, but not as good as Vancouver General Hospital, which reports an average wait to see an ER doctor of 2.2 hours.
Seriously ill and injured people can expect to wait less than the reported average wait times to see an ER doctor, while less-urgent cases can expect longer-than-average waits.
The Times made a request for LMH ER wait times because they were not included in a compare-the-hospitals website set up in September by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), a non-profit agency created by the federal, provincial and territorial governments.
Based on hospital-provided statistics, the figures showed LMH matched or exceeded Canadian averages in other categories, such as wait times for hip surgery, prevention of infection, and number of readmissions, where patients return to hospital following a procedure.
They also show the hospital runs at maximum capacity, with a 99.4 per cent occupancy rate.
More than half the patients at LMH, 56.9 per cent, arrive through the ER.
The average length of a hospital stay at LMH is 6.9 days.
The CIHI page can be viewed by going to yourhealthsystem.cihi.ca and clicking on the “Your Health System” link.
Month-by-month average wait times to see doctor at LMH ER:
Nov. 2013 2.5 hours
Dec. 2013 2.5 hours
Jan. 2014 2.7 hours
Feb. 2014 2.4 hours
Mar. 2014 2.5 hours
Apr. 2014 2.5 hours
May. 2014 2.4 hours
Jun. 2014 2.3 hours
Jul. 2014 2.5 hours
Aug. 2014 2.1 hours