The estimates are updated hourly and can change based on current conditions, with life-threatening cases seen immediately, Island Health says.
Estimated wait times to see a physician at the eight major hospitals on Vancouver Island are now online.
The newIsland Health ER wait-timetool, announced Thursday, comes after years of demand for real-time hospital ER wait-time estimates.
“I want to express my gratitude to the communities we serve for their patience — and to the Island Health teams who put in so much work to ensure we are providing the most accurate information possible,” said Marko Peljhan, Island Health’s vice-president for acute clinical operations.
Peljhan said Island Health looked across the country to find the “methodology that is the most accurate possible.” Tweaks are expected over the coming weeks to enhance that accuracy.
“We’ve been waiting a while to launch this,” Peljhan said at a media availability on Thursday. “We know people have been waiting for this.”
Island Health said the estimated wait times are calculated at each site using daily and hourly ER data from the day a person visits and the previous eight weeks — for example, it will say nine out of 10 patients will be seen within the estimated wait time, and most people should be seen sooner.
The estimates are updated hourly and can change based on current conditions, with life-threatening cases seen immediately.
At 10 a.m. on Thursday, the wait at Victoria General Hospital was seven hours and 28 minutes, while at Royal Jubilee Hospital it was six hours and 23 minutes, and at Saanich Peninsula Hospital, the estimated wait was three hours and 44 minutes.
In addition, the site lists estimated wait times for ERs at North Island Hospital in Campbell River and the Comox Valley, Cowichan District Hospital, Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni.
The new webpage is atislandhealth.ca/findcare, and also includes information about Urgent and Primary Care Centres and community-based resources.
“It’s important for people to be able to easily find and understand the different care options that are available to them, so they can make the best choice for themselves or a loved one,” said Peljhan.
At the same time, “if you’re having a critical life-threatening event, please don’t look at the web page,” said Peljhan. “Call 911, or get yourself to the closest emergency department.”
Dr. Ben Williams, Island Health’s vice-president of medicine, quality, research and chief medical officer, hopes the new resource will allow frontline staff and physicians to better focus on providing care, given the most common question from patients is how long they will have to wait.
The health authority said it’s also hiring more doctors and nurses — it added more than 800 new nurses last year — and is investing in community-based services, including home care, long-term care and primary care, to reduce the burden on emergency departments.
“This is something that we’re working very hard on every day to be able to provide [that] access to our community members across this island,” said Peljhan.
Island Health added that it just opened a second UPCC in Nanaimo and a new UPCC will open in Cowichan Valley this year. Last year, Island Health also transitioned to a full UPCC in Comox Valley and added a new primary-care access clinic in Campbell River.
Peljhan told theTimes Colonistthat ER wait times are “not only about improving access to our emergency departments,” which attract patients with a range of needs for access to urgent care, primary care, mental health, long-term care, pharmacy services and more.
“There is a lot we need to do, and in every community, to support individuals who do not require an emergency department visit to seek care in other areas,” he said, noting the website includes those alternative resources.
The number of people visiting UPCCs has gone up every year for the last six to seven years, said Peljhan. “We’re seeing over 100,000 patients a year through our Urgent Primary Care Centers across the Island.”
For all Island hospitals to have active wait-time technology “would require a further investment in our electronic health record, so we don’t have that capacity at this moment,” said Peljhan, adding the health authority looks forward to doing that in the future.
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