Dr. Sam Campbell said fewer patients leave without seeing a doctor. (CBC)

A new approach to emergency care has cut wait times at Halifax's ER.

The Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre recently completed a study of its first two years in the emergency centre, which opened in June 2009.

It has seen an almost eight per cent rise in patients in that time, but improved the average wait time by two minutes. Fewer people are leaving without seeing a doctor, too.

It used to be the case that a patient with an injury like a cut hand would arrive at the ER, be transferred to a bed and stay there until their care was completed.

Now, a patient might move between a bed and a waiting area with chairs several times while being treated.

Dr. Sam Campbell, head of the ER, said emergency treatment can take time.

"A lot of emergency care involves waiting for something to happen. So if you come in with a condition that requires an X-Ray, or a CAT scan, or certain blood tests, those tests take time," he said.

"If you're well enough to sit in the waiting room, then you're well enough to sit while those tests are being done."

That frees the bed for another patient.

In addition to improving wait times, the change has also seen the number of people who left without seeing a doctor decrease by 12 per cent.