Latest news with #CanadianInstituteforHealthInformation
17-07-2025
- Health
E-scooter injuries on the rise across Canada, data shows
Hospitalizations related to injuries from scooters and e-scooters have risen, according to new Canadian data, as emergency physicians warn the two-wheeled vehicles aren't toys. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) said Thursday that nearly 1,000 people were hospitalized (new window) for scooter-related injuries during the 12-month period starting April 1, 2023. That's up from 810 during the same period of 2022-23. Half of the injuries — 498 — were related to motorized e-scooters, an increase of 32 per cent over the 375 hospitalizations recorded in 2022-23. Some unintentional injuries are really predictable and preventable, particularly in relation to e-scooter injuries, said Tanya Khan, CIHI's manager of hospital data advancement and engagement in Montreal. Emergency physicians say the extent of injuries can be severe: brain, facial and dental trauma, fractures needing multiple surgeries, or traumatic brain injuries (new window) that require intensive care. Some injuries happen when the rider is hit by a car, but physicians are also treating people (new window) who have been hit by a rider. Back in 2020, Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) saw a single e-scooter injury. By 2024, that number had jumped to 46. Fast speeds on unstable devices Daniel Rosenfield, a pediatric emergency physician at SickKids, said the hospital saw 16 scooter-related injuries this May alone, compared with three or fewer during the same month in previous years. Rosenfield said injuries can range from bumps and fractures to life-changing head injuries and internal bleeding that need a whole trauma team or intensive care. This can be anything from just one or two surgeries to full recovery, to lifelong injuries needing rehabilitation hospitals and complete kind of neurologic devastation, Rosenfield said. Given what he has seen, Rosenfield implores parents not to buy e-scooters for children. They are not toys. WATCH | E-scooter rider versus Canada goose: People need physical maturity to operate e-scooters, Rosenfield said. From an emotional and cognitive perspective — where you just have the ability to understand where your body is in space, how you can make turns, what's far ahead and what's not — [it is] similar to driving a car. E-scooters can go from zero to 40 km/h in seconds, and many parents aren't aware of that, he said. At SickKids, almost 90 per cent of e-scooter injuries are among teenage boys. Most of them weren't wearing helmets. The hospital's injury rates also showed an increase among children aged four to six riding with a parent or older sibling. Enlarge image (new window) Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information Photo: CBC If you have speed plus head injury, a helmet will help mitigate those injuries every time, he said. Pamela Fuselli, president and CEO of Parachute, an injury prevention charity, said micro-mobility devices like e-scooters have small wheels and are unstable when being ridden. Inexperience comes into play, Fuselli said. Take some time to learn how to use these devices. She says all users should wear helmets, obey the rules of the road, including speed and alcohol limits, and respect other road users. Noting that provincial and municipal laws and regulations on using e-scooters vary across Canada, Fuselli said stepping up enforcement is important to prevent injuries. Amina Zafar (new window) · CBC News · Journalist Amina Zafar covers medical sciences and health care for CBC. She contributes to CBC Health's Second Opinion, which won silver for best editorial newsletter at the 2024 Digital Publishing Awards. She holds an undergraduate degree in environmental science and a master's in journalism. With files from CBC's Jennifer La Grassa
Global News
17-07-2025
- Health
- Global News
E-scooter injuries are on the rise among both kids and adults, data and doctors say
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says e-scooter injuries are on the rise across the country. It released data Thursday saying that hospitalizations involving e-scooters for kids between five and 17 years old increased by 61 per cent from 2022-23 to 2023-24. The agency said hospitalizations for men between 18 and 64 went up by 22 per cent in that time period and went up by 60 per cent for women. The data shows the majority of e-scooter hospitalizations happened in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia. Dr. Daniel Rosenfield, a pediatric emergency physician at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, said the number of kids and teens arriving in the emergency department with e-scooter injuries has been increasing over the last five years and some have been 'catastrophic,' including one 13-year-old boy's death in 2023. Story continues below advertisement 'We see anything from minor scrapes and cuts and little lacerations that need a couple of stitches to … traumatic brain injury, internal bleeding in the chest and abdomen, open fractures that need to go to the operating room to be fixed,' he said. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Some children between four and six years old have been hurt while riding with their parents on an e-scooter, Rosenfield said, but injuries among teens riding on their own is more common. Among cases where the information is available, 80 per cent of the riders who end up in the ER aren't wearing helmets, he said. Rosenfield said he thinks the rise in injuries correlates to an increase in the popularity and affordability of e-scooters in recent years — together with a lack of understanding about how dangerous they can be. 'These scooters, much like everything electrified these days, have come down in price and have increased in power,' he said. 'Their acceleration and torque is tremendous. And most parents, when they're buying these things for their kids, are completely unaware of that.' Pamela Fuselli, president and CEO of Parachute Canada — a charity focused on injury prevention — said the laws around e-scooters vary between provinces and even municipalities. In Ontario, riders must be at least 16 years old. But in Toronto, e-scooters are not allowed on public roads or paths. And just east of the city in Oshawa, they're permitted under a pilot program. Story continues below advertisement But people are clearly using them even where they're not allowed, Fuselli said. 'Even while a city may have a bylaw about this, they can regulate what's operated in public spaces, but then that has to be enforced. They can't really regulate what's sold,' she said. Fuselli said kids under 16 should not be riding e-scooters — and parents shouldn't be buying them for children younger than that. 'They look like toys, but they really are motor vehicles,' she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2025. Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
Winnipeg Free Press
16-06-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Manitobans voted to ‘fix' health care; it's quite possibly beyond repair
Opinion There is a story behind the story of longer waiting times for priority surgical procedures, and Manitobans are not going to like it. This week, the Canadian Institute for Health Information released its annual snapshot of priority surgical wait times. In Manitoba, as is the case across the country, more people are waiting longer to have surgeries to treat cancer, remove cataracts and replace hips and knees. Politically, this is bad news for provincial governments that are often judged by voters on the ability to provide timely health care. That's certainly true in Manitoba, where the NDP rode to victory in the 2023 election largely on its bold plan to fix the tattered health-care system. Despite adding nearly 18,000 additional MRIs and 91,000 more CT scans between 2020 and 2024, the median wait time for both diagnostic procedures had gone up, writes columnist Dan Lett. (The Canadian Press) Premier Wab Kinew and his government have, since that victory, been working to keep that promise. However, as the CIHI report this week showed, the situation is getting worse, not better, despite increased investments. Although the fact that provinces are falling behind is newsworthy, it is the low-hanging fruit in this story. The really alarming details can only be found by asking 'why' we're in this predicament. First, the basic numbers. CIHI tracks the volume of 'priority procedures,' which includes hip and knee replacements, cataract removals and cancer surgeries. In Manitoba, the data shows that median wait times went up in all categories and are now longer than they were in the pre-pandemic era. This is happening even though the total number of surgeries is, in Manitoba and across the country, increasing. Between 2019 and 2023, CIHI reported total surgical volume for priority procedures went up by five per cent. However, over the same period, Canada's population increased by seven per cent, and there has been a 10 per cent increase in surgical demand for people 65 years and older. Every province in this country is ready, willing and somewhat able to spend more money get more surgeries done. But without the nurses and doctors, it's a moot point. In Manitoba, the Kinew government has been rushing out announcements on increased surgical slates, including a pledge to complete up to 800 additional hip and knee replacement surgeries in Selkirk. The same is true for diagnostic tests. Despite adding nearly 18,000 additional MRIs and 91,000 more CT scans between 2020 and 2024, the median wait time for both diagnostic procedures had gone up. In terms of the macro demographic forces, we're losing ground. And the situation becomes worse when you consider two additional factors. First, our overall health as a nation is much worse now than it was when COVID-19 struck. To avoid a killer virus, patients with chronic health issues stopped going to their doctors, exacerbating existing conditions and promoting new illnesses. So, as we cancelled or delayed procedures, people got sicker and now require much more complex health-care treatment. The second factor is, of course, the continued shortage of nurses and doctors. Every province in this country is ready, willing and somewhat able to spend more money get more surgeries done. But without the nurses and doctors, it's a moot point; you can't make an insufficient pool of health care professionals work 24-7 to make up ground. Today, we're spending more money to do more procedures, and the situation is getting worse. That is the legacy of provinces that did not meet the needs of a growing and aging population before COVID hit. The shortage of medical professionals is acute now, but it's not a problem that you can lay at the feet of any one government. You could go back to the mid-1990s, when the provinces, en masse, trimmed medical and nursing school admissions in a moronic bid to control health-care costs. (Yep, that happened, look it up.) However, there have been some more recent, equally moronic mistakes made. When former premier Brian Pallister led the Progressive Conservatives back to power in 2016, he started a systemic starvation of health care that not only ignored the wait-times crisis, but angered most nurses and doctors. Nurses, in particular, were enraged at ill-fated plans to reorganize the Winnipeg hospital network and close several emergency rooms. All without, apparently, an iota of consideration about how nurses would react. Well, they didn't like it, and not only did it encourage older nurses to retire, it drove others to the private agency system, where they could choose where and when they wanted to work at a premium cost to the public system. The reaction by the Tory government to this conversion of forces was underwhelming. Each year, Pallister and his successor, Heather Stefanson, would pat themselves on the back for a history-making investment in health care. While it was true the budget for health care went up modestly each year to new heights, it wasn't enough to keep up with inflation or population growth. That made working in health care a much less-attractive option. And then the pandemic hit and the hole got exponentially bigger. Related Articles Northern MRI unit to benefit all patients, minister promises Northern MRI hits the mark, but better access needed across the province April data offers glimmer of hope on ER, urgent-care wait times Nurse fights to be heard after medical emergency kicks off 72-hour hospital odyssey Team of front-line workers to tackle hospital wait times Directive to better inform cardiac patients awaiting surgery 'great start' but not enough, family who lost mother says Heart patients to receive written timeline for surgery, minister announces Long road to recovery: ER, urgent care wait times return to disastrous levels It will be hard to find a better example of how 'penny-wise-and-pound-foolish' management can undermine a crucial public service. Today, we're spending more money to do more procedures, and the situation is getting worse. That is the legacy of provinces that did not meet the needs of a growing and aging population before COVID hit. We now face two possible fates. We accept the prospect of years and years of increased investment in a bid to catch up from the deficit we're in now. Or we accept that we've reached the point where there is no catching up. Dan LettColumnist Dan Lett is a columnist for the Free Press, providing opinion and commentary on politics in Winnipeg and beyond. Born and raised in Toronto, Dan joined the Free Press in 1986. Read more about Dan. Dan's columns are built on facts and reactions, but offer his personal views through arguments and analysis. The Free Press' editing team reviews Dan's columns before they are posted online or published in print — part of the our tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Ottawa Citizen
16-06-2025
- Health
- Ottawa Citizen
Queensway Carleton Hospital interested in developing transitional housing on federal land, MP says
Article content Article content Kaite Burkholder Harris, the executive director of the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, said there is obvious potential of such a housing project near an Ottawa hospital, and that the link between healthcare and housing is 'so clear.' Article content In 2022-2023, patients in Canadian hospitals, who were also experiencing homelessness, had an average stay of 15.4 days, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. The national average was eight days. Article content Burkholder Harris pointed to Dunn House, a social medicine housing initiative in Toronto, as a potential model for the Ottawa project. The development is a four-storey modular building on land owned by the University Health Network. Article content It has 51 units for unhoused people who were frequently admitted to the hospital. Article content Burkholder Harris said there is a 'good opportunity' for the Queensway Carleton Hospital to follow the lead of Dunn House, which was the first facility of its kind in the country, according to the University Health Network. Article content Article content 'I think it's really demonstrated the value of being able to provide really deeply supportive housing, but with a healthcare lens, and if it's close to the hospital like that, it makes a huge difference too in terms of the access to services,' she said. Article content Cheryl Forchuk, a health researcher at Western University, said that those who experience homelessness age more rapidly and often accumulate chronic illnesses to the point that 'you would think I was talking to a geriatric population.' Article content Stress caused by a lack of secure housing leads to higher rates of arthritis, lung disease and even early onset dementia, Forchuk said. Article content It's why Forchuck has advocated for permanent housing solutions rather than mere transitional housing, which she says is a stop-gap measure. Article content 'Transitional housing is not a home, and so ultimately, people need homes,' said Forchuk, who studies the link between housing and homelessness. Article content Article content Vandenbeld said the hospital has begun developing its proposal, but it's unclear whether it has submitted it to the federal government. Article content Moving forward, Vandenbeld said she wants to ensure the land is transferred to the hospital, which will be the first domino to fall before the discussion can turn towards partnerships and funding for the project. Article content She added that the sooner the land is committed to the hospital, the easier it will be to string partnerships together for development. Article content 'It's very hard to get any funding to build when you don't actually have a commitment on the land, right?' Vandenbeld said. Article content There is also a second adjacent property in the federal land bank at 1730 Robertson Rd., which Vandenbeld said could be of interest to the hospital for another project later down the road. For, now her focus has been on bringing the first project to fruition. Article content 'It's going to be a challenge to find all the pieces and put them together,' Vandenbeld said. 'But looking at who is already committed on this, I'm very optimistic about it.'
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Canada's health care system collapsing as surgeries rise but patients suffer longer waits and deadly delays
What do waiting for joint replacements, vision blurring behind cataracts, and anxiously waiting for radiation therapy have in common? They're all stories in Canada's healthcare struggle, as revealed in a new June 12 report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Canada performed 26 percent more hip replacements, 21 percent more knee replacements, 11 percent more cataract surgeries, 7 percent more cancer surgeries, and delivered 16 percent more MRIs and CT scans between 2019 and 2024, But under the surface, deeper problems persist. A shrinking share of patients received care within national time benchmarks: only 68 percent of hip replacements and 61 percent of knee replacements were done within the 26-week target, down from 75 percent and 70 percent in 2019. Radiation therapy within the 28-day goal dropped from 97 percent to 94 percent, and urgent hip‑fracture repairs within 48 hours fell from 86 percent to 83 percent. Most alarming, median waits for prostate cancer surgery increased by nine days, to 50 days; other cancers rose by one to five days. Live Events CIHI and experts point to several root causes: 'Health systems are managing multiple challenges, including an aging and growing population, rising demand for procedures, and health workforce shortages,' CIHI noted in a release. 'More scheduled procedures are being performed to meet growing demand.' Canada's aging population Those 65+ grew 19 percent faster than the overall population in five years, combined with workforce shortages. Anesthesiologists are up just 6 percent, orthopedic surgeons only 3.5 percent, while demands soar. Hospitals also juggle crowded ORs, stretched beds, and emergency cases. Dr. James Howard, chief of orthopedics at London Health Sciences Centre, warns that patients now arrive 'later… with more complex problems,' a factor that drags on wait times. What can be done? CIHI suggests concrete steps: centralized booking systems, better wait-list triage, and shifting low-risk surgeries to outpatient or private clinics. A promising pilot in one province showed day surgeries for hips and knees rose from 1 percent to over 30 percent, cutting costs, freeing hospital beds, and helping urgent cases. Performing more procedures is only half the battle. Ensuring timely, equitable access is the rest.
