News release

Wait Times for Addiction Services Published

Health and Wellness

Nova Scotians living with addiction will now have more information about wait times for several treatment services in their community and across the province.

The Department of Health and Wellness added several addiction services wait times to the provincial wait times website today, June 1. Nova Scotia is a national leader in developing addictions services wait time data, and the only province reporting addiction services wait times.

"We are providing Nova Scotians with the information they need to make decisions about when and where to receive the best possible treatment," said Health and Wellness Minister Maureen MacDonald. "This empowers patients to be more active participants in the decision-making process for their personal treatment and care, so they know all of their options."

Wait times for the following programs are available on the provincial wait times website:

  • Adult Community-based Services
  • IWK CHOICES (Out client and 24/7 services)
  • Structured Treatment
  • Withdrawal Management (Detox)

Addiction Services wait times are generally within, or close to, provincial standards. Data will be updated four times a year.

"Information is knowledge, and we use wait-time information to determine where our programming is working well, and where we may need to re-align our efforts to meet demand for services," said Robert Graham, manager of addiction services for the Colchester East Hants Health Authority. "This information helps us tailor our programs and services, when we can, to better meet the needs of the clients in our community."

The wait times for addiction services can be accessed at www.gov.ns.ca/health/waittimes .