Langley Memorial Hospital ER staff were telling patients it was the longest wait time they could remember.
From Monday, March 3, to Tuesday, March 4, some waited as long as 17 to 18 hours to see a doctor.
While X-rays, blood work and other tests were carried out in a matter of a few hours in most cases, the wait for a physician to review the results was considerably longer.
Patients filled up the waiting rooms and spilled into a hallway.
The next morning, as the wait continued, one ER staffer was advising new arrivals to consider going to the Maple Ridge ER instead.
“I can't tell you what to do,” the staffer could be heard saying, “but the wait time [in Maple Ridge] is an hour."
Other staff explained the delay was due to two serious medical emergency “code blue” cases involving heart attacks.
A statement from Fraser Health Authority, in response to a Langley Advance Times query, confirmed "higher-than-normal patient volumes, including a significant number of low acuity patients."
"This contributed to longer wait times for patients whose care needs were not life-threatening. Staffing volumes in the Emergency Department were normal during that time period."
It did not disclose whether code blue calls had contributed to the delays.
A few days later, on Friday, the wait time was more than 10 hours.
On that day, Langley-Walnut Grove conservative MLA Misty Van Popta, who had checked the online ER wait times page at https://www.edwaittimes.ca/welcome, took a family member to the Maple Ridge ER instead, which took about three hours.
Van Popta described LMH as "severely underfunded."
"It's becoming unsustainable, it's becoming dangerous, and it needs to stop, quite frankly."
"We're met with empty words and no action as Langley is growing. [It's] one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the province, and we're being consistently overlooked."
During debate on the provincial budget on Thursday, March 6, Van Popta complained the government had failed to honour its promise to provide 300 long-term-care beds for Langley.
"They've been making promises for eight years," Van Popta said.
"We've grown 22 per cent since 2021 and we have not seen a 22 per cent increase in funding for hospitals, [or] for schools, none of that," Van Popta commented.
"This has nothing to do with staffing," Van Popta added.
"The staff are doing the best that they can. They've got some great physicians and nurses at Langley."
