New N.S. Health website shares estimated ER wait times
A Nova Scotia emergency department physician says a new website providing estimated ER wait times will equip patients with valuable information while navigating health care.
Dr. Jan Sommers, head of the Colchester East Hants Health Centre emergency department, said in an interview Tuesday that residents in need of urgent medical care should never be deterred by long wait-time estimates because “people with life-threatening and other highly time-sensitive issues are typically seen without delay.”
The new portal released Tuesday shares estimated wait times, updated hourly, for 10 of the largest emergency departments in Nova Scotia and reflects what a patient can expect if they are “at the lower end of the triage scale,” Sommers said.
Open wait-time data like this reflects a “shift” towards providing more detailed health information to patients, Sommers said.
“We view our patients as partners in their care, and it’s difficult for them to make choices when they don’t have any information.”
“It’s really intended more for situations where people are perhaps experiencing a barrier to care at other locations and they choose to go to an emergency department because they feel it’s the only option, but their health needs are perhaps not as pressing as what we might typically see” at the ER, she said.
Sommers said the new site will give people insight into what kind of experience they can expect ahead of an emergency department visit, assuming the patient is not presenting with urgent care needs.
Steven Carrigan, director of analytics for Nova Scotia Health, said in an interview Tuesday the website uses a combination of historical wait-time data and current ER patient numbers that are updated hourly.
“If there’s a significant change [of patient numbers] within an hour period, it would be accounted for in the next hourly update,” he said. The data is updated using ER patient registration information tracked in the health authority’s internal system.
Carrigan said this effort is “another step” in the health authority’s ongoing focus on increasing public health reporting.
This wait time website comes after the province released its planned changes to the way emergency departments operate in order to ensure residents with urgent needs are treated quickly. This plan, released in January, followed the death of two Nova Scotia women who waited hours for care.
Sommers said this new website is not among the health authority’s many plans to address wait times, but that it’s about catching up to the fact that “we’re really just living in an information age.”
“When you order a package on Amazon you can get an estimate of its delivery time within several hours. So when seeking health care, which is a very important thing, I think it’s worthwhile to know or be able to anticipate how long you might wait to receive care,” Sommers said.
The website is currently tracking some of the largest emergency departments in the province, but Carrigan said he expects it will be expanded to include all ERs in the province in the coming weeks.
In a statement Tuesday, Nova Scotia’s Department of Health said regardless of the predicted wait times, those with the most urgent need are seen first.
“So, it’s very important that this data does not stop Nova Scotians from seeking the care they need when they’re facing an emergency,” the statement said.
Anticipated wait times are currently available for:
- QEII Health Sciences Centre (Halifax Infirmary site) in Halifax
- Dartmouth General Hospital
- South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater
- Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville
- Yarmouth Regional Hospital
- Colchester East Hants Health Centre in Truro
- Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre in Amherst
- Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow
- St. Martha’s Regional Hospital in Antigonish
- Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney
For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Freeland to present 2024 federal budget, promising billions in new spending
Canadians will learn Tuesday the entirety of the federal Liberal government's new spending plans, and how they intend to pay for them, when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tables the 2024 federal budget.
Ontario woman charged almost $7,000 for 20-minute taxi ride abroad
An Ontario woman was shocked to find she’d been charged nearly $7,000 after unknowingly using an unauthorized taxi company while on vacation in January.
Worker seriously injured after fall at Montreal Olympic Stadium
A man is fighting for his life after falling about 30 feet in an air duct at Montreal's Olympic Stadium on Monday, authorities say.
Tim Hortons launches pizza nationally to 'stretch the brand' to afternoon, night
Tim Hortons is launching flatbread pizzas nationally in a bid to pick up more afternoon and evening customers.
A look inside the gutted 24 Sussex Drive
The National Capital Commission is providing a glimpse inside the gutted 24 Sussex Drive, more than a year after the heritage building along the Ottawa River was closed.
NASA confirms mystery object that crashed through roof of Florida home came from space station
NASA confirmed Monday that a mystery object that crashed through the roof of a Florida home last month was a chunk of space junk from equipment discarded at the International Space Station.
Fire rages through the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, toppling the iconic spire
A fire raged through one of Copenhagen's oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire from the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables.
Budget 2024 'likely to be the worst' in decades, former BoC governor says
Without having seen it, former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge believes that Tuesday's 2024 federal budget from Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is 'likely to be the worst budget' in decades.
Your morning coffee may be hundreds of thousands of years old
Using genes from coffee plants around the world, researchers built a family tree for the world's most popular type of coffee, known to scientists as Coffea arabica and to coffee lovers simply as 'arabica.'