How Wait Times are Measured

There could be different times you will be required to wait for health care services. It might be for a referral, a diagnostic test, surgery or treatment. A wait time starts when the hospital or clinic receives a request for service or treatment for the patient. In Canada, health-care providers agree that a wait time should start when the physician determines that the patient is medically ready, and the patient consents to treatment.

The wait times on this website do not measure the time that a patient waits to see a family doctor or the amount of time they have to wait for a referral to a specialist or surgeon.

Measuring Referral to Specialists Wait Times

The wait times for referring to specialists are currently measured by counting the number of calendar days from the day the referral arrives in the cancer centre to the day the specialist appointment takes place.

Measuring Diagnostic Services Wait Times

The wait times for diagnostic services are measured using the physician billing system. The wait time is calculated retrospectively from the time the Cone Biopsy is performed to the time of the first previous visit.

Measuring Treatment Services Wait Times

The wait times for treatments services are measured by counting the number of calendar days from the date the specialist and patient decided the service was medically necessary to the date the service was performed.

The charts on this website show how long patients waited to receive their treatment during a specific period of time. Some data is reported on a monthly basis while others only have quarterly updates. It would be impossible to predict how long you will have to wait for your treatment, but seeing how long it took other patients to receive that same treatment earlier may give you a better idea. Our priority is to reduce wait times and provide better health care for you and your family.

Wait times information is displayed on this site in three different ways:

5 out of 10 patients are seen within and 9 out of 10 patients are seen within

When 5 out of 10 patients are seen within

The amount of time it takes half the patients to get their treatment.

When 9 out of 10 patients are seen within

This indicates the amount of time it takes before most patients get their treatment. It does not mean that 90% of the people waited that many days. Most patients will have received treatment much earlier.

Average Wait Times

In some cases, we provide a single number for the wait time. This is the average number of days patients waited for this procedure.

Priority 1-2-3

Wait times for Cardiac Catheterization, Radiation Therapy and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) are measured based on the urgency of care needed or Priority. Priority 1 is the highest level of urgency.