Nova Scotia emergency room deaths up 10 per cent in 2022, data shows

Newly released data shows that deaths in Nova Scotia emergency departments were up 10 per cent in 2022 from the previous year.

According to health data obtained by the Nova Scotia NDP through a freedom of information request, 558 people died in emergency departments across the province last year, up from 505 in 2021.

The figures, which cover Nova Scotia’s four health zones from 2017 through 2022, show that last year’s death total was the highest during the six years.

The province’s central zone, which includes Halifax and the surrounding area, had the most emergency room deaths last year, with 289.

The next highest number was 126 in the western zone, which covers the South Shore and Annapolis Valley.

The question of ER deaths in Nova Scotia has been in the news after 37-year-old Allison Holthoff died on Dec. 31 after a seven-hour wait at the Cumberland Regional Health Centre emergency department in Amherst, N.S.

The new data shows that deaths in emergency departments have fluctuated over the six-year period, with the fewest ER deaths recorded at 393 in 2020 and the second most occurring in 2018, with 531.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2023.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.