Walk-in clinic wait times in BC double those in Ontario and Alberta, figures show

Walk-in clinic wait times in British Columbia are double the length of those in Ontario and Alberta, new data show.

Medimap, which provides live wait times for 70% of clinics across Canada, has released its figures from Nov. 2018 to Oct. 2019.

The average wait time for BC over that period was 50 minutes.

In Alberta, however, it was 23, while in Ontario it was 25.

The only other province to perform worse than BC was Nova Scotia, where wait times average out at 69 minutes.

Of the 10 worst-performing cities in Canada, seven are in BC.

Bottom of the rankings was Sidney, with a waiting time average of 180 minutes.

The rest of the bottom 10 were:

• Langford, BC (117 minutes)

• Victoria, BC (92)

• Morinville, AB (91)

• Maple Ridge, BC (91)

• Halifax, NS (91)

• Nanaimo, BC (82)

• Williams Lake, BC (80)

• Kingston, ON (77)

• Pitt Meadows, BC (75)

“Many Canadians don’t have access to a family doctor and, for those who do, it can often take weeks to get an appointment,” said Blake Adam, CEO and founder of Medimap.

“Your health needs can’t always wait, which is where walk-in clinics fill an important gap in our healthcare system.”

He added: “We created Medimap as a simple solution that saves time and frustration for these people when they need access to care.”