Hamilton residents can now see emergency room wait times online
- Craig Clark
- 10 Jan 2020
Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Health Care has launched a new website that lists real-time wait times of emergency departments and urgent care units in the Hamilton area.
NOW LIVE: You can look up the average length of time it will take to see a doctor in #HamOnt Emergency Departments & Urgent Care Centres by visiting, https://t.co/TTbHhuuHt0. Remember, patients needing emergency care should always call 9-1-1, immediately.🏥 #WeAreStJoes #ONhealth pic.twitter.com/gKL6iNo8oX
— St. Joe's Healthcare & Foundation (@STJOESHAMILTON) January 8, 2020
The website, hamiltonemergencywaittimes.ca, was launched on Wednesday and allows people in the area to view wait times of two urgent care centres, four adult emergency departments, and McMaster Children’s Hospital.
Residents will now be able to use the website to see the average length of time they might have in order to see a doctor or nurse from time of registration to triage.
Wait times are determined by analyzing the last six-hour period and automatically updated every 15 minutes.
The site includes a series of graphs that show a history of the hospital’s patient volumes throughout the day. There is also a clock that shows the current wait time to see a physician.
The changes come after hospitals realized that patients wanted to be more actively involved in their care through technology. However, the tool is for patients with conditions that might not require urgent care to give them the option to visit a less busy emergency room.
This system of informing residents of local wait times has been successful in a few other areas of Ontario including the Niagara Health Region and St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener.
It’s important to remember that if you are experiencing an emergency that requires immediate urgent care to visit the closest emergency room regardless of the wait time online.
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