How Long Do You Have To Wait at the Hospital or Walk-in-Clinic

I am planning a lawsuit against the Regional Health Authority , possible the Health Science Center as well for not being able to look after my health problem in a timely manner.
3-6 months to see a specialist for pain control is not an acceptable level of service, but because I am Canadian, the system is taking advantage of tthe fact that we as Canadians simply do not complain.
I have been up for several hours because one cannot sleep with pain.
How long do you normally wait at a clinic or at the emergency at a hospital? Do they tell you when you can expect to get in, or do they just tell you nothing?

My experience at the Misericordia Urgent Care is not a good one.

I fell (wrecked my rotary cuff) and went there to have it checked. I waited for about six hours and then finally just left.

They don't tell ya' anything Rosen. You're treated like an animal...just a number headed to slaughter.

Fcuk our so-called Health Care System!!

I have learned to complain and do so in such a way that I rarely have to wait. They just want me the hell outta their sight. Hahahaha. |In all seriousness though |I will relate a story about HSC that happened a couple of years ago....I had chipped a bone on my right ankle and of course was in severe pain....I asked countless times for some sort of relief and was given none. For the next several hours I got to watch the dregs of society coming in off the street - intoxicated of course and sometimes escorted by Winnipeg's finest - and they were looked after in a far more timely fashion.

When I finally was taken into the triage area I could not help but note two of the other patients, one handcuffed to the bed and the other, a woman, belligerent and drunk....I quietly sat back, rocking away in excruciating pain for there was nothing I could do. Medical personnel kept passing me. Medications were handed out to these other two.....percocets if memory serves correct.

After I finally received an X-ray I was able to get some painkillers and they were most certainly not percocets....oh no, I would have had to have lied and say that |I had an allergy to T-3's in order to get the former....but I suppose that if one is in and out of the system enough they know how to manipulate it.

I found my treatment that night not to be harsh or anything but i had to ask key questions with regards to my injury several times over....and because I had arrived there in the wee hours of the morning (after having tried to ride out the pain at home unsuccessfully for who the hell wants to go to HSC on an early Saturday morning?) I kept getting asked if I was on drugs or alcohol....that line of questioning got very tiresome very quickly....|I felt like a criminal or a reject.....I pity the workers who do those shifts....I sure as hell could not take dealing with that ilk.

As to walk-in clinics if |I see too many folks waiting, \I walk out. As to scheduling specialised exams (for I deal with a neurological disorder - not serious but it needs to be monitored) |I have gotten quite adept at demanding proper and timely screenings. |I do not take no for an answer. |I do follow-ups because if I have to wait for someone to call me that will most likely never happen....once again, it is not the workers but the system.

That being said our system is still better than the system south of the border. I do not have to go bankrupt in order to get two casts for my ankle.. One girl friend broke her leg in two spots in Texas for example and after surgery etc...her bill came to $42,000.00

|If I am traveling and i need to sched an MRI i pay for that out of my pocket. I do not bother with insurance as I find for what |I need i can afford the out of pocket expenses say in |Mexico.....thus far anyway....if |I feel that \I may get sicker later then perhaps |I may sign up for long-term coverage.

|Yes our system can be a pain in the ass but it beats going broke.

One last note here and \I am sure folks who live up north will agree with this ex-northerner.....why are we constantly flying folks back and forth from remote communities for dialysis or other treatments as such that could be done in their own communities and administered by Nurse Practiitioners|? Why are so many women flown out to give birth|? Is it because the College of Physicians and Surgeons wants to maintain the status quo|?

I wrote a brief back in the 80's that helped to forward the cause of midwifery.....|I lost track of its progress but if the government were to strengthen community health care and awareness of ethnic-specific issues like adult diabetes the taxpayer would be saved a hellacious amount of coin.

JMH|O

Thanks to both of you for answering. I think that if and when i run an ad for people who have had to wait 6 or 12 hours for care, I will have many people who will be willing to testify to the long wait time, before receiving care.
That is my beef. I have letters going back over 3 1/2 years , each one complaining about the pain.
Part of The Regional Health Authorities Act states the duties of the authority are: "ensure that health services are provided in a manner which is responsive to the needs of individuals", "and integrates health services and facilities."
Whether they are liable for claimed damages is another question.
Years ago I tried, to sue the Federal Government for malicious prosecution, and it was after 2 1/2 years tossed out for delay. I did not put into one of my briefs some correspondence that I had urging them to get on with it, and on a technicality, I couldn't put those damn letters in when I appealed the dismissal. That was a very good experience because at the Federal Court, which is set up to handle complaints about any government agency, they gave me a booklet on how to sue them. It was afollow by the numbers thing, and all you had to do was follow the procedure as outlined in the book.
The lawsuit cost $2.00 to file. Pretty good deal, but as a non lawyer very difficult.
I appealed to The Supreme Court the dismissal, cost $50, but they wouldn't hear the case. I said that it was my right as a citizen to be heard, but they did not agree to hear the case.

Have you tried contacting Theresa Oswald's office? It seems she doesn't do anything so she should be available...

Miz Point something you may have missed when out on the wild blue part of our planet recently. The Manitoba government has committed to increasing the number of midwives in the province.

I did a quick search but cant find the details on the MB website but seem to recall it was a rather significant committment

Well then Dean it's about bloody time.....I wrote that brief back in 1988.....hehehehehe....mine btw was one of several submitted regarding that issue so |I am not trying to toot my horn here....it was a "labour" of love due in part to the fact that i too had to give birth at HSC even though \I wanted to do so in my own community. |It was as if to say that we wimmin folk were unable to do these sorts of things without a physician present. |Hell, my physician was not present and \I got a series of them dealing with me and \I can say that |I was not too pleased about that being that one of the physicians had placed her name on an ad (full page ||Freep ad no less) at the time supporting the pro-life movement....I kicked her ass out of my room |(verbally of course being that \i was hooked up to monitors....hehe)

Anyway....thanks for that tidbit...

they even have a midwife program in the north now

http://www.midwives.mb.ca/register.html

a FOUR YEAR program...
http://is-8668.ucn.ca/webpages/xml/xml_output/2009_3_3/Program_List_1238768151394.xml

"How long do you normally wait at a clinic or at the emergency at a hospital?"
Really depends on the severity of the issue. I have waited anywhere from 2 minutes (at stienbach ER when my wife fell through some steps and banged my babies head) to 3 hours to 9 hours.

Do they tell you when you can expect to get in, or do they just tell you nothing?"

Pretty much dont say anything at all.. at least nothing even close to accurate.. hell a good chunk of the time the walk in doctors dont even do anything.

This isn't rocket surgery. A big part of a health care providers job is to calm the fears of their patients. It does not take a great deal of effort to understand how quickly people will be moved through their system at any given time.

Maître d's can.

It seems there is no desire on the part of Manitoba Health to be helpful.

well thankfully this guy has apparently not had to wait long for his treatment...

dude has had cancer on 8 seperate occasions in he was 14
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/article2357824.ece

grumpy old man wrote:This isn't rocket surgery. A big part of a health care providers job is to calm the fears of their patients. It does not take a great deal of effort to understand how quickly people will be moved through their system at any given time.

Maître d's can.

It seems there is no desire on the part of Manitoba Health to be helpful.

It just does not make much sense. You wait in a room with 50 other people.. the line barely moving once you finally get to the back the doctor is with you maybe 5 minutes... so what the hell is he doing all the rest of his time? At 5 minutes per patient he should be seeing 20 people per hour give or take a few minutes lets say 10 people per hour... But you know that does not happen so I ask WTF? seriously.. WTF?

It's like lunchtime at a bank. Keep all tellers on duty during the busy time and take your lunches before noon and after 1...
Might be too simplistic a parallel but you get my point.

So I just got a call from the PAIN CLINIC! Come in at 1:00 P.M.
I did not have the nerve to ask them if the cancellation was someone who died or committed suicide!

hope all goes well Rosie!

Thanks- The lady who phoned, I could here her irritation in her voice! " Because you made so many phone calls", but that really isn't true, I sent e-mails!
"Spinal cord stimulator" prettty depressing Dr. Google information.
Oh well maybe I can get $1,000,000 claim so I can have all of the winnipeg sandbox over for a catered steak barbeque, lots of beer and crown royal and some real smelly hand rolled cigars to keep the mosquitoes away! lol

the cigars are rolled by people with smelly hands? And this is somehow a selling point?

I think he means his hired help is smelly and rolls cigars in his spare time in between applying pesticides to the gardens!

That is everyone less the above 2 smart alecs! lol

"real smelly hand rolled cigars "
is there a "fake" smelly hand

cigar?


I think we need to start a new chapter of the WPS to crack down on this illegal trade.. wont someone please think of the career smelly hand people?

Hope it goes well for you Rosie.

Regarding that BBQ, I'll be happy to hand-roll those "cigars" (I call 'em bombs).

The best way to see a specialist may be to make an appointment through a family physician, who can also provide pain and sleeping medication as required. Three to six months waiting for non urgent and not life threatening conditions does not seem unreasonable for rare conditions where there are few specialists available.

What would you consider to be a reasonable time to wait if you are in constant pain?

I don't even complain or ask my Dr anymore. He has yet to give me anything to help with sleep. I told my husband to complain to his Dr and sure enough he got a prescription, so I just use that. I hurt my back 2 years ago and could barely move, my Dr gave me antinflamatories which did nothing and told me to take Advil. He finally gave me Tylenol 3. IMO, men are treated much differently then woman. My hubby can get anything if he asks, I have trouble sleeping for over a year and nothing.