ER Doctors Are Leaving Canada’s ‘Broken’ Health System, Study Finds

Canada’s emergency departments are losing physicians as overcrowding, staffing shortages and wider health-system failures push doctors to reduce their hours, take leave or quit emergency medicine, a new national survey suggests.

Among 410 emergency physicians surveyed in 2025, 10% had left the specialty, 48% had reduced their clinical hours and 20% had taken time off. Women and younger doctors reported higher burnout levels.

The findings, published July 27, 2026, in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, indicate that the staffing problem extends beyond one hospital or province. Respondents repeatedly described a “broken” health-care system with insufficient resources and support.

What the Canadian ER doctor survey found

The online survey included physicians from every province and territory except Yukon and Nunavut. Participants identified heavy patient volumes, difficult working conditions, inadequate clinical support and an inability to meet needs extending beyond emergency care.

The percentages represent survey respondents, not a confirmed share of Canada’s entire emergency physician workforce. However, the combination of departures, reduced clinical hours and extended absences points to a significant loss of frontline capacity.

Researchers warned that physician exhaustion should no longer be dismissed as a temporary pandemic effect. Persistent workplace distress is associated with lower-quality care and increased risks to patient safety.

Why emergency physicians are leaving

Vancouver physician Dr. Kaitlin Stockton said at least five of her colleagues had left emergency medicine in recent years. Many were only three, five or 10 years beyond their training rather than approaching retirement.

Stockton recalled delivering a cancer diagnosis in a crowded room without adequate privacy, treating a patient with a brain bleed on a hallway stretcher and caring for someone who developed septic shock after waiting eight hours.

Toronto emergency physician Dr. James Maskalyk said organizational failures can leave doctors feeling unable to provide the care patients need. ERs increasingly absorb gaps caused by limited primary care, specialist access, home support and long-term-care capacity.

Canada’s emergency physician numbers remain unclear

There is no definitive national workforce count because most Canadian physicians operate as independent contractors. Available figures do not reveal how many doctors regularly work full ER schedules.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information counted roughly 3,750 emergency physicians in 2024, while the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians estimates there may be about 6,000. Neither figure measures how many hours those doctors currently work.

A physician can therefore remain in the specialty while cutting enough shifts to reduce a hospital’s ability to assess patients and maintain reliable coverage.

What fewer ER doctors mean for patients

Canadian Institute for Health Information data recorded more than 16.1 million unscheduled ER visits in 2024–25, up from almost 15.5 million the previous year. For admitted patients, nine out of 10 visits were completed within 48.5 hours.

A 2024 investigation found that one in five Ontario hospitals with an emergency room or urgent-care centre experienced an unplanned closure that year. Such shutdowns were uncommon before the pandemic.

Staffing is one part of a broader capacity challenge. Operational failures can create additional pressure, as demonstrated when a six-hour power outage at Halifax’s Victoria General Hospital required five critical patients to be transferred.

Plans to expand the workforce, including new immigration pathways for foreign-trained physicians, could improve recruitment. They cannot independently resolve overcrowding, blocked inpatient beds or inadequate community services.

What governments are being asked to change

Ontario has broadened the roles of pharmacists and paramedics so some patients can receive treatment outside hospitals. British Columbia has opened urgent and primary-care centres intended to reduce avoidable ER demand.

Canada’s premiers have called for more predictable federal health funding. The Canadian Medical Association has urged provincial leaders to address recurring ER closures and reduce barriers preventing clinicians from working across provincial borders.

The CMAJ study recommends improving patient flow, expanding specialized geriatric emergency care and adding personnel who can address patients’ social and non-medical needs. The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians has proposed broader system redesign through its EM:POWER emergency-care initiative.

What happens next

Peer support, adequate rest and workplace assistance may protect individual doctors, but the research indicates that broader structural problems are driving departures. Hospitals need sufficient inpatient capacity, community services and transparent performance data.

Without coordinated action from provincial and federal governments, fewer available shifts could produce longer waits and heavier workloads for the physicians who remain, placing further pressure on access to reliable 24-hour emergency care.