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Winnipeg Woman Recounts 26-Hour ER Wait, Cites Lack of Progress
🇨🇦 Canada /Health & Science

Winnipeg Woman Recounts 26-Hour ER Wait, Cites Lack of Progress

From Global News · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Context piece
  • A Winnipeg woman expresses disappointment over perceived lack of progress in reducing hospital emergency room wait times.
  • Beverley Masters recounted a nearly 26-hour wait in 2025 after experiencing a suspected deep vein thrombosis.
  • She believes her condition could have been treated more quickly at another facility and has advocated for a cancer care-specific emergency department.

Beverley Masters, a 73-year-old Winnipeg resident, voiced her frustration with the persistent issue of long emergency room wait times, citing her own experience of waiting nearly 26 hours in 2025. Masters, who has a history of breast cancer since 1996, found herself in the emergency department at the Health Sciences Centre (HSC) after experiencing symptoms she suspected were a deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

The only reason I wound up there [in the emergency room] was because I had called cancer care to advise that I suspected I had a DVT [deep vein thrombosis] again.

— Beverley MastersExplaining the circumstances that led her to the hospital's emergency department.

Masters explained that she was directed to the HSC emergency room by ambulance after Cancer Care Manitoba's ward was temporarily closed. Upon arrival, she spent the first 14 hours waiting on a stretcher in a hallway between the ambulance bay and the ER entrance. She described the hallway as "incredibly narrow," barely accommodating stretchers and medical staff, with multiple patients positioned "foot-to-head" and lacking access to washrooms.

I wasn’t even actually in the ER for the first 14 hours.

— Beverley MastersDescribing the initial wait time spent in a hallway before being admitted to the ER.

After her extensive wait, Masters received a 15-minute ultrasound and was prescribed blood thinners, a treatment she noted could have potentially been administered more swiftly. She suggested that one of the other six hospitals in the city might have been able to accommodate her more quickly, recalling a similar situation in September 2023 where she received prompt care.

For me, all I needed was an ultrasound. It could have been easily solved. There must have been at least one facility in the six hospitals that could have squeezed me in somewhere, as they did in September of 2023.

— Beverley MastersReflecting on the potential for quicker treatment and her past positive experience.

Inspired by her experience, Masters wrote to Manitoba's government and health minister in 2025, advocating for a dedicated emergency department for cancer care patients. She stated she never received a response. Masters shared her concerns with Global News after a recent report on similar ER wait time issues, expressing that some patients would "rather die at home alone than ever subject themselves to the HSC emergency room again."

There are people willing to die at home alone, rather than ever subject themselves to the HSC emergency room again.

— Beverley MastersExpressing the extreme dissatisfaction some patients feel towards the HSC emergency room.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Global News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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