Emergency room closures drop in Ontario as critics urge government to make data public

Since a flare-up in emergency room closures in July 2022, Ontario Health has required hospitals to notify it if they are forced to shutter any major department to the public.

The number of emergency room closures in Ontario is dropping, according to new data from the Ford government, as critics demand more transparency around how nursing and physician shortages are impacting the north of the province.

Since a flare-up in emergency room closures in July 2022, Ontario Health has required hospitals across the province to notify it if they are forced to shutter any major department to the public.

The policy was instituted as criticism mounted about the closures, which, according to the auditor general, had been “very rare” before 2020 and ballooned in the summer of 2022.

Now, new data shared with Global News by the Ministry of Health shows the number of closures at hospitals appears to be dropping — although more than 50 instances were recorded last year.

The numbers cover July to December 2022 and the entirety of both 2023 and 2024. They reveal the most reported instances of shut down departments took place in 2023, but hospitals were closed for more hours the year before.

Some of the 2022 issues were significant in length. The Chesley hospital emergency room, for example, shut its doors from October until December, while Perth And Smiths Falls District Hospital’s Perth site was closed for more than 500 hours in July.

The Ottawa Hospital had a closure on its general campus for more than 100 hours in October 2023, while the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital was shut for almost 90 hours over the New Year due to a nursing shortage.

The latest figures covering 2024 saw a substantial drop in the total number of closures without eradicating them. Rainy River Health Centre, for example, was shut for 87 hours in June due to a physician shortage.