Where Our ER Wait Time Data Comes From
Every wait time on ERWaitTimes.ca comes from an official health system. This page lists each source, what it publishes and how we use it. New provinces appear here as soon as their data goes live.
Last reviewed
Niagara Health
- Official page
- niagarahealth.on.ca
- What it publishes
- “Estimated wait to see a doctor or NP”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 5 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 3 ERs and urgent care centres in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How Niagara Health defines it: Niagara Health's estimate of the time from checking in with the triage nurse to being seen by a doctor or nurse practitioner, based on how long patients have waited over the last six hours. It is shown to the nearest half hour, updated about every five minutes, and is not a guarantee of how long you will wait.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Niagara Health
London Health Sciences Centre
- Official page
- lhsc.on.ca
- What it publishes
- “Estimated wait to see a physician”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 15 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 2 ERs and urgent care centres in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How London Health Sciences Centre defines it: The most current estimate of how long it will take for non-urgent and non-emergent patients to be seen, from assessment by a triage nurse until they are seen by a doctor. It does not include time for specialized care such as imaging, or time in hospital if a patient is admitted. LHSC estimates it from data in its health information system.
Definition
Attribution: Source: London Health Sciences Centre
edwaittimes.ca
- Official page
- edwaittimes.ca
- What it publishes
- “9 in 10 patients seen within”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 5 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 40 ERs and urgent care centres in British Columbia
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How edwaittimes.ca defines it: 'Wait Time' is the time it takes for almost all patients – 9 out of every 10 who visit the ED – to be seen by a physician. This is also known as the 90th percentile and is the time in which 90% of all people seeking care will be seen. Some people, about 10%, may have to wait longer than this time. Wait time refers to the length of time between being assessed by a triage nurse and seeing a doctor or nurse practitioner.
Definition
Attribution: Source: edwaittimes.ca (Vancouver Coastal Health, Providence Health Care, Fraser Health and PHSA)
WRHN @ Midtown
- Official page
- wrhn.ca
- What it publishes
- “Longest expected wait to see a doctor”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 1 hour
- We check it
- Every 10 minutes
- Sites covered
- 1 ER or urgent care centre in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How WRHN @ Midtown defines it: An estimate of how long you may wait, from arrival, to see a doctor or nurse practitioner. WRHN updates it every hour. Patients are seen based on how sick they are, not in the order they arrive, so it may change if patients with more serious needs arrive.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Waterloo Regional Health Network
WRHA HSC Children's Emergency
- Official page
- wrha.mb.ca
- What it publishes
- “Wait to see a physician, PA or NP”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 5 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 1 ER or urgent care centre in Manitoba
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How WRHA HSC Children's Emergency defines it: The time in hours between being registered and seeing a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner. Due to rapidly changing demands and the need to see the sickest patients first, WRHA notes that your own wait time may be more or less than the time displayed.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
LHSC Children's Hospital
- Official page
- lhsc.on.ca
- What it publishes
- “Estimated wait to see a physician”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 15 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 1 ER or urgent care centre in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How LHSC Children's Hospital defines it: An estimate of how long it will take for non-urgent and non-emergent children and youth to be seen, from assessment by a triage nurse until they are seen by a doctor. LHSC updates it every 15 minutes.
Definition
Attribution: Source: London Health Sciences Centre
WRHA Urgent Care
- Official page
- wrha.mb.ca
- What it publishes
- “Wait to see a physician, PA or NP”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 5 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 3 ERs and urgent care centres in Manitoba
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How WRHA Urgent Care defines it: The time in hours between being registered and seeing a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner. Due to rapidly changing demands and the need to see the sickest patients first, WRHA notes that your own wait time may be more or less than the time displayed.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
WRHN @ Queen's Blvd.
- Official page
- wrhn.ca
- What it publishes
- “Longest expected wait to see a doctor”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 1 hour
- We check it
- Every 10 minutes
- Sites covered
- 1 ER or urgent care centre in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How WRHN @ Queen's Blvd. defines it: An estimate of how long you may wait, from arrival, to see a doctor or nurse practitioner. WRHN updates it every hour. Patients are seen based on how sick they are, not in the order they arrive, so it may change if patients with more serious needs arrive.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Waterloo Regional Health Network
Brant Community Healthcare System
- Official page
- bchsys.org
- What it publishes
- “Average wait to see a physician”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 15 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 1 ER or urgent care centre in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How Brant Community Healthcare System defines it: The time between when you are greeted or triaged and the first time you see a physician. BCHS says 90% of its patients will see a physician in this amount of time, and updates it every 15 minutes.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Brant Community Healthcare System
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
- Official page
- wrha.mb.ca
- What it publishes
- “Wait to see a physician, PA or NP”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 5 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 3 ERs and urgent care centres in Manitoba
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How Winnipeg Regional Health Authority defines it: The time in hours between being registered and seeing a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner. Due to rapidly changing demands and the need to see the sickest patients first, WRHA notes that your own wait time may be more or less than the time displayed.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
Halton Healthcare
- Official page
- haltonhealthcare.on.ca
- What it publishes
- “Estimated wait to see a physician”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 15 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 3 ERs and urgent care centres in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How Halton Healthcare defines it: Estimated wait time to see a physician in the Emergency Department. Halton Healthcare updates it every 15 minutes.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Halton Healthcare
Alberta Health Services
- Official page
- albertahealthservices.ca
- What it publishes
- “Estimated wait to see a physician”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 2 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 29 ERs and urgent care centres in Alberta
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How Alberta Health Services defines it: An estimate of how long it might take from an assessment by a triage nurse in the emergency department or urgent care to being seen by a physician. It does not represent the total time patients may spend at the hospital, and it does not apply to critically ill or injured patients, who are always seen quickly.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Alberta Health Services
Hamilton Emergency Wait Times
- Official page
- hamiltonemergencywaittimes.ca
- What it publishes
- “Average wait to see a doctor (last 6 hours)”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 15 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 7 ERs and urgent care centres in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How Hamilton Emergency Wait Times defines it: The length of time between when you arrive to the front desk to check in and when you see a doctor. It is calculated by averaging the time that each patient has waited over the last six hours and is updated automatically every 15 minutes. Patients are triaged with the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale and the sickest are seen first, so your own wait may be shorter or longer.
Definition
Attribution: Source: St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and Hamilton Health Sciences
BCHS Willett Urgent Care Centre
- Official page
- bchsys.org
- What it publishes
- “Estimated wait for a new patient”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 1 hour
- We check it
- Every 10 minutes
- Sites covered
- 1 ER or urgent care centre in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How BCHS Willett Urgent Care Centre defines it: The wait time indicator is an estimate of the current wait time for a new patient. BCHS notes that the unpredictable nature of the clinic may result in longer wait times for individual patients.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Brant Community Healthcare System
Windsor Regional Hospital emergency wait times
- Official page
- wrh.on.ca
- What it publishes
- “Average wait to see a doctor or NP”
- Its refresh rate
- About every 15 minutes
- We check it
- Every 5 minutes
- Sites covered
- 3 ERs and urgent care centres in Ontario
- How we read it
- We read the provider's public data feed or published page. We do not log in or access patient records.
How Windsor Regional Hospital emergency wait times defines it: The length of time between being assessed by a triage nurse and seeing a doctor or nurse practitioner, shown as an average. Windsor Regional Hospital says the most critical patients are seen first, so an individual's wait may be much shorter or longer than the average. Erie Shores HealthCare, which appears in the same feed, describes its figure as an estimate from being assessed at triage to being seen by a physician. Updated about every 15 minutes.
Definition
Attribution: Source: Windsor Regional Hospital and TransForm Shared Service Organization
What we don't do
- We don’t change the numbers a source publishes, except to round them for display.
- We don’t fill gaps: a site without a published wait is shown without one.
- We don’t claim to be, or to be endorsed by, any health system. ERWaitTimes.ca is independent.
Report an error
If a number, address or opening time looks wrong, email hello@erwaittimes.ca. See how we measure ER wait times for how we check and compare them.
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