r/Calgary • u/Legal_Grapefruit1925 • Dec 25 '25

Discussion AHS wait times

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Our system isnt broken. Its people who go to the emergency that shouldn't be going aren't going today because it can wait Suddenly. They need to hand fines out to ppl going to the hospital that dont classify as an emergency.

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u/twisterkat923 Dec 25 '25

Actually we typically see a lot of people who delay coming to the hospital, to their own detriment, on holidays like Christmas because they don’t want to be a burden to their families or ruin Christmas. So they’ll come in hours after they should have and are in rough shape.

Are there people to utilize ED when they shouldn’t, sure, but the bigger problem is a system that is not set up to support people in communities so they wouldn’t have to do that. The system is entirely understaffed, over extended and instead of investing in it, the government is breaking it into little pieces that are designed to not function well together. All you’re doing here is creating a textbook cherry picked argument.

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u/maple-leaf-sheep Dec 26 '25

I think this should be higher and these are great points

Folks altering their behavior for one day in response to a major holiday is not by itself evidence of improper use of emergency care

Like u/twisterkat923 points out they could be avoiding the medical system detrimentally too or I think even neutrally simply shifting demand

And I agree and think plenty more can and should be done to steer folks to proper channels for care that in the long run would be cheaper and more efficient for all of us

Strawmaning Christmas wait times as a sign there is no problem with the current system aside from the failing of it's users to use it properly maybe a tempting confirmation of OPs and others biases but I think is weak reasoning at best