Real-time estimated wait times for the Okotoks Health and Wellness Centre - Urgent Care are now available online, which Alberta Health Services says will give Albertans another tool to support healthcare for themselves and their families.
The wait times can be found at www.ahs.ca/waittimes under the listing for Calgary and area, as well as on the Alberta Health Services app for iPhone and Android mobile devices.
The posted wait times provide an estimate of how long it takes from an assessment by a triage nurse in the emergency department to being seen by a physician. Once a patient has been triaged, the estimated wait times do not continue to apply to them.
The posted times are not a representation of the total time patients may spend at the facility.
Estimated wait times do not apply to critically ill or injured patients who will always be seen quickly. Alberta Health Services reminds Albertans that anyone needing emergency care should call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department, regardless of posted wait times.
The times are calculated through a software system that uses current data from the facility to compare the number of people in the emergency department and how sick they are, with the resources available and required to treat those patients.
The Okotoks Urgent Care Centre is the latest in the Calgary area to have the estimated wait times available. More will be added as the information and infrastructure become available.
Online estimated emergency department wait times were first posted for hospitals and urgent care centres in the Calgary area in 2011, followed by AHS sites in Edmonton in 2012, the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre in 2016, and the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital and Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge in 2017. Regional sites across the Edmonton area were added in 2021, Grande Prairie in 2022, and Airdrie and Cochrane urgent care sites in the Calgary area and the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre in Fort McMurray were added last year.
Alberta Health Services provides a range of healthcare services for more than four million adults and children living in Alberta. The health authority's mission is to provide excellent, patient-focused healthcare that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans, and its current focus is on reducing emergency department wait times, improving EMS response times, increasing access to surgeries and improving patient flow.
