Health minister considers Ontario pilot letting some ER patients wait at home

New Brunswick's health minister is considering adapting a Northern Ontario 'virtual home waiting room' pilot that let eligible non-urgent ER patients wait at home and receive text updates; the Sault Area Hospital trial reported shorter in-hospital wait times and high user satisfaction.

New Brunswick's health minister, Dr. John Dornan, is exploring a Northern Ontario pilot that allowed eligible non-urgent emergency patients to wait at home while receiving text messages about when to come in. The Sault Area Hospital trial ran for three months and involved about 350 participants. Hospital reports said in-hospital wait times fell and most users reported being satisfied. The province is also facing high hospital occupancy and delays caused in part by patients awaiting long-term care placements. Key details: - The pilot asked patients with certain non-urgent complaints to complete an online form; eligible patients could wait at a location of their choice and receive hourly texts about their place in a virtual queue and when to go to the ED for triage and registration. - The Sault Area Hospital board reported overall wait times fell by more than 25 per cent during the three-month pilot; for many low-acuity patients the time to initial physician assessment dropped from about 5.8 hours to 2.7 hours and length of stay fell from about 7.7 hours to four hours (these figures exclude time spent waiting at home). - With home waiting time included the improvement was closer to 22 per cent; 90 per cent of low-acuity participants waited up to about six hours to be seen and seven and a half hours to be discharged; the rate of patients leaving without being seen fell to about five per cent; 87–89 per cent of users reported satisfaction and more than 90 per cent said they would use it again. - The pilot has ended but the hospital can open or close the virtual queue and has expanded capacity to about 21 patients per day, up from 10 during the trial. - New Brunswick faces ongoing capacity pressures: the auditor general reported one-third of ER patients are seen within appropriate timeframes; some hospitals reported estimated waits up to 16 hours between registration and discharge; regional occupancy figures reported by health networks exceeded normal capacity, and alternate level of care (ALC) patients accounted for large shares of occupied beds. - Dr. Dornan said a plan to ease overcrowding related to ALC patients is expected "within weeks" and officials are working with regional authorities to assign ALC patients to available nursing home beds within about 100 kilometres; expanding primary-care access through collaborative clinics and virtual services was also mentioned as part of broader efforts. Summary: A virtual home waiting room trial in Sault Ste. Marie produced measurable reductions in in-hospital wait metrics for eligible non-urgent patients and high user satisfaction. Officials say such a model could reduce time spent in busy waiting rooms, while broader capacity issues driven by patients awaiting long-term care remain a central factor; the health minister has indicated a decision and a plan on bed-blocking measures may come within weeks.