1 in 7 ER visits could have been a doc visit; New Air Canada carry-on rules: CBC's Marketplace cheat sheet
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1 in 7 ER visits in Canada are for conditions that could have been managed in primary care: report
Lack of access to family doctors and other primary care providers leaves more Canadians with no option than to go to the emergency department for care, new data suggests.
About one in seven visits to the emergency department in Canada are for conditions that could have been managed by a family doctor or other primary care provider, like a nurse practitioner or pediatrician, and roughly half of those visits could have been managed virtually, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
Thursday's report focuses on primary and virtual care access through the lens of visits to emergency departments between April 2023 and March 2024.
The institute previously reported over five million Canadian adults say they don't have a family health provider, and even those who do say they experience major challenges getting access to timely care.
Now, CIHI has developed a new indicator to gauge how hard it is to access care: emergency department visits for conditions that could potentially be managed in primary care.
Sunita Karmakar-Hore, CIHI's manager of health system performance reporting in Toronto, said people who report that they don't have access to a doctor at a walk-in clinic or their own family doctor have slightly more visits to the emergency department for primary care conditions during weekdays.
"What's surprising is that even for people that report that they do have access to a primary care doctor, the percentage of visits for conditions that could be managed in primary care is still high," said Karmakar-Hore. "It's about 13 per cent, and those visits are happening on the weekends." Read more.
Air Canada's cheapest tickets on some routes will no longer include carry-on baggage
The free carry-on bag, once considered a given for even the most basic airplane seat, has received another blow.
Air Canada has become the second major Canadian airline within the past year to make its cheapest ticket one without complimentary carry-on luggage on some flights.
The airline said Wednesday that passengers who purchase the lowest-priced basic economy fare for North American and sun routes on or after Jan. 3, 2025, will only be allowed to bring one personal item, with no carry-on included, and will have to pay to check any bags beyond the personal item.
Personal items include smaller bags such as purses or a computer bag that can be stowed under the seat in front of you.
Carry-on luggage refers to duffel bags and small roller bags that would normally be stored in compartments above the seats.
Those bags will now have to be checked before passengers go through security, at a fee of $35 for a first bag and $50 for a second. Any passenger who fails to check their bag before security and arrives at their gate with an ineligible carry-on will be required to check it — and to pay an elevated fee of $65. The change does not apply to those with Star Alliance Gold or certain other memberships. Read more.
A pie heist? British chef out $45K in savoury meat pies after van stolen with 'tasty' goods inside
First, thieves came for our cheese. Then, they came for ... well, more cheese. But now they're coming for savoury meat pies, and people are done.
A British chef who lost 2,500 pies this week after thieves stole his van says "it's a real shame" that although police eventually recovered the van, the pies meant for a York Christmas market couldn't be salvaged.
"It's just such a waste. It's just rubbish," chef Tommy Banks said in an Instagram video posted Tuesday.
"Unfortunately not the news I was hoping to share," he added in the video description.
Banks, who owns two Michelin-starred restaurants and a pub in the northern English county of Yorkshire, said a staff member discovered the van was missing, along with its cargo of steak and ale, turkey and butternut squash pies intended for a Christmas market in the city of York.
In an earlier Instagram post, Banks explained that colleagues had loaded up their refrigerated van with stock over the weekend, then left it plugged in. When a colleague went to pick up the van Monday morning, it was gone.
"I am guessing the thieves didn't realize they were stealing 2,500 pies along with the van," Banks added.
In a statement posted Tuesday, North Yorkshire Police said they'd received a report on Monday "that a refrigerated vehicle containing valuable food stock including pies" had been stolen over the weekend. The van had actually been recovered — abandoned and with false plates — by Cleveland Police on Nov. 29.
Cleveland Police stored the vehicle until they could perform a forensic investigation. Read more.
What else is going on?
One easy way to offset the damage of Trump's tariffs
Long-standing trade barriers between the provinces and territories act as a drag on economic growth. Removing them could boost the economy by more than the damage expected from Donald Trump's tariffs.
Drilling into oil and gas ads — how accurate are they?
There is a lack of context in advertising campaigns related to the oil and gas industry, experts say. CBC's Nicole Mortillaro looks at three claims.
Dollarama buys land for Calgary warehouse, targets 2,200 Canadian stores by 2034
The centre is expected to be in operation by the end of 2027.
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