A significant increase in visitors to the new emergency department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has been causing some longer wait times.

The new ER opened a few weeks ago at the Charlottetown hospital.

Officials say the department usually handles about 115 to 125 patients a day, but that's increased to between 150 to 175 patients a day at the new ER.

Hospital officials say while the number of summer tourists may contribute to the increase, it also seems that more Islanders have been opting to go to the new facility instead of a walk-in clinic.

"I suppose some folks might think they'd be able to move through the system more quickly," said Rick Adams, executive director of the hospital. The department, however, experienced some long wait times last weekend, when staffing was down.

"Where we normally have 48 hours of physician coverage per 24-hour period, we were down to 40 hours of physician coverage for a 24-hour period," Adams said.

"Then it is the summer tourist season, and we normally experience an increase in numbers of visitors to our emergency department during the summer."

Adams said the first course of action for people without emergencies is to head to a walk-in clinic.

He noted the emergency department treats those with the most severe health issues first, so people with minor ailments might find themselves waiting much longer at the ER than at a clinic.