Inquest into Winnipeg man’s death hears ER crowding not from minor complaints

WINNIPEG – One of the country’s leading emergency department experts says hospital waiting rooms aren’t being clogged up by people coming in with minor complaints.

Grant Innes told an inquest into a man’s death during a 34-hour wait at a Winnipeg hospital that emergency room overcrowding is a problem across Canada.

But the head of emergency medicine at the University of Calgary also said studies show patients with minor sprains don’t take up a lot of hospital resources.

Innes says the real backlog occurs when admitted patients are stuck on stretchers because they can’t get a hospital bed or the specialst treatment they need.

He says hospitals often close beds in the summer or over Christmas because staff take time off, but that’s when demand is highest.

The inquest was called after Brian Sinclair died almost six years ago while waiting for care at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre.