In Alberta 18 per cent of people left hospital emergency departments without receiving care in the last year, according to a report by Alberta's doctors.
That's more than double the national average of 8.6 per cent reported by Canadian Institute for Health Information.
The Alberta Medical Association's State of Health Care 2025 Report also showed that only 54 per cent of those with a family doctor can usually get an appointment when needed.
Wait times at walk-in clinics and emergency departments were frequently rated as poor, and 42 per cent of those who saw a specialist rated the wait for an appointment as poor.
“It’s unacceptable that so many Albertans are without access to a family doctor, and emergency room wait times remain dangerously high, with patients simply getting up and leaving because the wait is so long," said Sarah Hoffman, Alberta New Democrat Shadow Minister for Health, in a statement.
“More than a million Albertans had to visit an emergency department, with many reporting they were there for routine care, which could be done in a doctor’s office if they had a family doctor."
The Ministry of Hospital and Surgical Health Services said in a statement that the latest quarterly data from Health Quality Alberta showed only two hospitals reported a 'left without being seen' rate of 18 per cent or higher, and most hospitals had rates well below that level.
"Delays in Alberta’s emergency departments are shorter than in other large provinces and we are one of the top performers in the country — but that’s still not good enough. We are taking action to reduce wait times by adding hospital beds, expanding assisted-living capacity for patients awaiting transition to more appropriate care settings, and investing in new urgent care centres across the province to provide alternatives when emergency care isn’t required," the ministry said.
"We are also increasing the number of family physicians. As of the end of March 2025, Alberta had 12,123 registered physicians — an increase of 491 over the previous year, including a net gain of 317 family doctors. This represents the largest annual increase in recent history, with all five AHS zones seeing year-over-year growth."
The ministry added the AMA survey only had 1,120 participants and did not include how they were selected making it unclear how representative the results are of the broader population and not a credible source of health data.
