This eastern Ontario hospital emergency department has the longest wait time in Ontario to see a doctor

The Hawkesbury and District General Hospital is seen in this undated image. (Hawkesbury and District General Hospital/Facebook)

The average wait time to see a doctor in the emergency department at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital was the longest in Ontario in July, as a nearby hospital closed its emergency department due to staffing issues.

New statistics from Health Quality Ontario shows the average wait for a first assessment by a doctor at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital emergency department in July was 4.6 hours, more than double the provincial average.

The wait time to see a doctor at HGH was four hours in June.

The Glengarry Memorial Hospital temporarily closed its emergency department overnights for two-and-a-half weeks in July due to a shortage of nurses, and ambulances and patients were directed to either the Cornwall Community Hospital or the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital.

Patients waited an average of 2.1 hours to see a doctor in an Ontario emergency room in July.

The Ottawa Hospital General Campus had the longest wait times to see a doctor Ottawa, with patients waiting an average of 3.6 hours for a first assessment with a doctor.

Wait times to see a doctor in an emergency department increased slightly at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital to 3.2 hours in July from 3.1 hours in June.

At the Montfort Hospital in Ottawa's east end, wait times increased from 2.2 hours in June to 2.3 hours in July.

Wait times to see a doctor at the emergency department decreased at both the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus (3.1 hours in July) and CHEO (3 hours in July), compared to the month before.

The average length of time "low-urgency patients" spent in the ER in Ottawa ranged from 4.3 hours to 5.3 hours.  The target time for "low-urgency patients" to spend the emergency department is four hours.

The average length of time for "low-urgency patients" in the ER at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital was 5.6 hours.

Patients waited between 14 and 23.4 hours in an Ottawa hospital ER to be admitted to hospital in the month of July. The provincial target is eight hours.

AVERAGE WAIT TIMES

Here is a look at the average wait times for a first assessment by a doctor in emergency departments at hospitals in Ottawa and eastern Ontario in July.

• Kingston Health Sciences Centre – Hotel Dieu – 1.2 hours
• Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital – Perth site – 1.3 hours
• Renfrew Victoria Hospital – 1.4 hours
• Brockville General Hospital – 2 hours
• Kingston Health Sciences Centre – Kingston General – 2.1 hours
• Lennox and Addington County General Hospital – 2.3 hours
• Montfort Hospital - 2.3 hours
• Pembroke Regional Hospital – 2.5 hours
• CHEO – 3 hours
• Cornwall Community Hospital – 3.1 hours
• Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus – 3.1 hours
• Queensway Carleton Hospital – 3.2 hours
• Ottawa Hospital General Campus – 3.6 hours
• Hawkesbury and District General Hospital – 4.6 hours

(No data for Glengarry Memorial Hospital, Kemptville District Hospital and the Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital)