Terms of Use

Wait Time Canada is a health systems observatory and portfolio project developed for medical school application purposes. It collects publicly available emergency room wait time data from official provincial health authority websites and analyzes methodology differences across provinces.

This is an independent research project, not an official government service or medical information platform.

Wait time estimates are approximate and subject to rapid change. Actual wait times depend on:

• Patient acuity (severity of condition)
• Number of patients already waiting
• Sudden influx of critical cases
• Staff and resource availability
• Time of day and seasonal factors

We do not guarantee:

• Real-time accuracy of displayed wait times
• Completeness of hospital coverage
• Availability of data from all provinces
• Uninterrupted service or data freshness

Data quality issues, methodology changes, and source unavailability are tracked at /data-quality.

Different provinces use different wait time metrics. For example:

• Some measure Triage-to-Doctor time
• Others measure Registration-to-Doctor time
• Some report 90th percentile (P90) estimates
• Others report average or rolling average estimates

Direct comparison of wait times across provinces may not be valid. Our platform highlights these methodology differences to prevent misinterpretation. See /methods for full documentation.

You may use this platform to:

• View current emergency room wait time estimates
• Understand methodology differences across provinces
• Access data quality reports and anomaly detection information
• Export data for academic or research purposes
• Cite this project in academic work (see CITATION.cff)

You may not:

• Scrape or systematically download data beyond the provided export features
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble the platform
• Use the platform for any unlawful or fraudulent purpose
• Misrepresent this platform as an official government service
• Use data to make medical decisions without consulting healthcare providers

Source Code: This project is open source under the MIT License. See GitHub repository for full license terms.

Data Sources: Wait time data originates from provincial health authorities and remains subject to their respective terms and licenses. We do not claim ownership of source data.

Aggregated Analysis: Original analysis, methodology documentation, and aggregate statistics produced by this platform are available under the MIT License.

This platform is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. To the maximum extent permitted by law:

• We make no warranties regarding data accuracy, completeness, or reliability
• We are not liable for decisions made based on information provided
• We are not responsible for service interruptions or data unavailability
• We are not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages

Use of this platform for medical decision-making is entirely at your own risk.