An emergency department doctor at Chinook Regional Hospital is warning of continued delays in care. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Updated with comments from AHS

Lethbridge ED patients waiting up to eight hours as doctor shortages continue

May 20, 2025 | 10:15 AM

“There are people that have expressed their opinion that they don’t want to come back again after having been seen here, which is understandable.”

Those are the words of Dr. Sean Wilde, an emergency department (ED) physician at Chinook Regional Hospital.

He is speaking out about the ongoing shortage of ED doctors on behalf of 16 local physicians.

Wilde says, since last summer, they have routinely experienced shortages of shifts, “and they’re looking to be even worse in the coming months.”

He tells LNN that they would normally have one-to-three doctors on every shift, depending on the time of day, and that being short of even just one can have a major impact on wait times.

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“We now often see waits of eight hours for what used to be two,” reads a portion of the doctors’ letter.

The long wait times have had profound impacts on both patients and the physicians providing them with care.

He says that most people have been understanding of the situation, and they see that the doctors are doing their best to see as many patients as quickly as possible, but it is still frustrating nonetheless.

From the perspective of the doctors, Wilde says they feel the weight of burden that has been placed on their shoulders.

“This has lead, over the last year or two, to our shifts being more stressful from that point of view and a little more exhausting as we try to keep up and we feel that press of people needing attention and we can’t get to them as quickly as we’d like to,” says Wilde.

He adds that the increasing stress has been a contributing factor to the ongoing shortage.

“As the work becomes more physically and mentally exhausting, some of our doctors have had to cut back their hours, just being unable to manage that load for as many shifts in a month because of the load on their mental health and their own well-being. It gets us into a bit of a vicious cycle.”

Unfortunately, Wilde says there are no quick or easy solutions.

The attraction and retention of doctors is a long-term issue, but there are a couple of initiatives in the works that should help out.

Wilde says Chinook Regional Hospital is starting a local emergency medicine residency training program this summer. The plan is to have one residency student initially, but eventually take on two at a time.

While the existing physicians will have to devote some of their time to training the new recruits, it will add more personnel to their roster.

Elsewhere, the University of Lethbridge is working to prepare its new Southern Alberta Medical Program. It aims to admit 30 medical students annually.

“The philosophy is, if you train people locally, they’re more likely to stay local,” says Wilde. “That’s the focus of that program.”

The Southern Alberta Medical Program is set to welcome its first class in July 2026. The first group of graduates could become fully licensed physicians in 2031.

You can see the current estimated wait times for local emergency departments on AlbertaHealthServices.ca. In emergency medicine, patients are treated based on the severity of their condition.

AHS provided the following statement to LNN:

“Alberta Health Services (AHS) values the work our physicians and healthcare teams do in communities across Alberta, and we recognize that many of our physicians are facing pressures in the delivery of their health services.

Chinook Regional Hospital currently has 17 emergency medicine physicians and is actively working to recruit seven more. Two new physicians were hired in 2024, and three additional candidates have recently been interviewed and are in the midst of the recruitment process. Despite these ongoing efforts and locum coverage, the emergency department continues to experience shortages.

All patients at Chinook Regional Hospital’s emergency department continue to be seen based on the severity of their medical condition. However, those with less acute issues may experience longer-than-usual wait times, despite the hospital traditionally having some of the shortest wait times in Alberta

AHS remains committed to supporting recruitment and retention efforts—including in Lethbridge—to ensure patients and families have access to high-quality care. We are also actively exploring all available options to support the emergency department team in delivering effective services.”

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