B.C. Emergency Rooms in Crisis: 86% Spike in Patients Leaving Without Care
COMOX, BC: Devastating new figures obtained through a provincial Freedom of Information request reveal that 141,961 British Columbians left emergency rooms in 2024/25 without ever being seen, up from 76,157 in 2018/19. That’s an 86% increase in just six years and represents the highest number of unscheduled ER visits ending without care ever recorded in B.C.
“These aren’t just numbers, they’re lives,” said Brennan Day, MLA for Courtenay–Comox. “That’s 141,961 people who turned to the system in a moment of crisis and were turned away by a government that simply isn’t listening.”
The most extreme failure occurred in Island Health, which posted the worst increase of any health authority. In 2024/25, 29,997 unscheduled emergency visits ended without the patient receiving any care, a 160% increase from 2018/19, when the number was just 11,513.
“That’s nearly 30,000 people — someone’s parent, child, neighbour, or friend — who walked into an Island Health ER and left empty-handed,” said Day. “Island Health is leading the province in failure. The situation in the Comox Valley is particularly dire, and the NDP continues to ignore it.”
Emergency departments in the region have been plagued by overcrowding, severe staffing shortages, and dangerous wait times. Front-line workers and whistleblowers have raised alarm bells for years, but the NDP has failed to act.
“ERs don’t need more spin or empty announcements,” Day added. “They need doctors, they need nurses, and they need a government willing to lead before more lives are lost.”
The BC Conservative Caucus is calling for:
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Emergency investments to stabilize nurse and physician staffing in Island Health
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Immediate regional oversight and accountability measures
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An independent audit of ER capacity, staffing, and wait time transparency
Read the full FOI results here:
Response Package HTH-2025-50789 (gov.bc.ca)
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