Tuesday morning, Alberta Health Services launched another online tool to give Albertans an idea of what kind of wait times to expect for medical service. AHS is now posting estimated wait times for Emergency rooms in real-time on its website.
Edmonton is the second area of the province to provide this tool to the public. Calgary launched the online wait times last July. The province says the public response has been positive. Over the past 10 months, the Calgary emergency wait times page has received approximately 30,000 hits.
The aim of this project is to give Edmontonians the ability to decide which ER to go to. The wait times are updated every two minutes.
The tool is also available in app form, through an AHS mobile application for iPhones and other Android devices. Roughly 3,500 people have downloaded the app already.
“This provincial initiative is designed to provide patients and the public with up-to-the-minute estimated wait times for emergency departments,” said Fred Horne, Minister of Alberta Health and Wellness. “This is an example of how we are using innovative tools to further our commitment to improve access to emergency care in the province.”
While this new online tool is meant to give patients more information about the ERs – in the case of an emergency - people should still call 911 and go to the nearest ER.
AHS will be providing wait time estimates for the emergency rooms at Royal Alexandra Hospital, University of Alberta Hospital, Misericordia Community Hospital, Sturgeon Community Hospital in St. Albert, Grey Nuns Community Hospital, Leduc Community Hospital, Stollery Children’s Hospital, North East Community Health Centre, Westview Community Hospital, and Fort Saskatchewan Hospital (when the supporting software is available). Other ERs and care centres will be added to the site in phases as the data becomes available.
“Posting emergency department wait times is part of our commitment to be transparent as an organization and to provide the best access to health care for Albertans,” said Dr. Ruben Hansen, Acting Zone Clinical Department Head for Edmonton’s Emergency Departments.
The real-time wait times are calculated by software that takes data from each hospital to provide an estimate as to how long it will take to see a doctor after being assessed by a triage nurse.
“We know that emergency demand can change quickly and dramatically, without notice, so these times are an estimation,” says Carol Manson-McLeod, Executive Director of Emergency for the Edmonton Zone of AHS. “We are providing patients with the same information we have inside the emergency departments – it’s up-to-the-minute data.”
This tool is part of AHS’s overall goal to reduce wait times and improve access to medical care through the 5-Year Health Action Plan.
AHS is the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health supports and services for more than 3.7 million adults and children living in Alberta.
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