Indigenous, Black patients waiting longer to be seen in hospital
A preliminary analysis of race-based data collected from patients shows racism can be a factor affecting wait times and care provided in Manitoba emergency departments, the project's lead said Tuesday.
Manitoba hospitals became the first in Canada to collect data about patients' race on May 11, 2023. Patients at hospitals and health centres were asked during registration if they wanted to declare their race. The information is voluntary.
A report shows Indigenous and Black patients are waiting the longest to be seen, a pattern similar to other findings.
'Unfortunately, in a system under stress, it is often those who are the most marginalized and have the fewest resources who are impacted the most,' Dr. Marcia Anderson said in a Shared Health news release.
'While this might come as no surprise, the collection of this data is critical for accurately measuring and demonstrating specific health disparities.'
Anderson also said Indigenous patients attend emergency departments with similar triage scores as white patients. A 'harmful narrative' that Indigenous people 'overuse' emergency departments and use them 'inappropriately' is not supported by data, she said.
The news release was sent around the same time as Anderson held a news conference alongside Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara.
'The findings of this data are, unfortunately, not unique to Manitoba. The systemic failure to provide adequate care to an increasingly racially diverse population is a national issue, but our government is committed to addressing these gaps within our system,' Asagwara said in the release.
The initiative is a response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action #19, which calls on governments to identify and close the gaps in health-care outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. A steering committee is helping design steps to eliminate racism in the health-case system.
The data was collected by Shared Health in collaboration with the University of Manitoba's Ongomiizwin Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing and the U of M's George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation.
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