Emergency Department Overcrowding

The Doctors of BC believes:

• That the BC government establishes a maximum Emergency Department length of stay benchmark of less than six hours (from arrival to Emergency Department exit).
• That all admitted patients must be transferred out of an Emergency Department to an inpatient area within two hours following a decision to admit.
• That overcapacity protocols be implemented in all BC hospitals, and used as a short-term solution until functional acute care capacity is sufficient.
• That all BC hospitals optimize bed management strategies to ensure the appropriate use of existing and future acute care beds.
• That the BC government sufficiently increase the number of functional acute care beds to meet clinically appropriate access standards.

For more information, including background, analysis and references, please see the full policy statement.