Two indicators give the clearest basis for comparing Ontario emergency departments: the wait before first assessment and the length of stay. According to Ontario Health, the average wait before first assessment in Ontario was 1.7 hours in January 2026, down from 2.2 hours in January 2025. Both measures are published hospital by hospital on a monthly dashboard, so any single facility can be read against the provincial average rather than judged on one number.
Which indicators to compare in emergency departments?
Wait before first assessment
This measure runs from triage or registration to the first examination by a physician, nurse practitioner or dentist. It shows how quickly patients reach a clinician, separate from the time spent on treatment or admission that follows. Ontario Health reported 2.2 hours in January 2025, 2.1 hours in December 2025 and 1.7 hours in January 2026. Comparing the same month across years limits seasonal effects. However, Ontario Health added 43 sites in December 2025, so the January 2025 and January 2026 averages may not cover the same hospitals.
Length of stay by patient group
Length of stay runs from triage or registration to admission or discharge. Averages differ sharply by patient group, so compare like with like:
| Patient group (January 2026) | Average length of stay | Share within target | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low acuity, not admitted | 3 hours | 77% | 4 hours |
| High acuity, not admitted | 4.5 hours | 89% | 8 hours |
| Admitted to hospital | 20.3 hours | 26% | 8 hours |
The admitted group shows the widest gap between average and target: only 26% of these patients were discharged or admitted within 8 hours, according to Ontario Health (2026). Compare each group only with the same group at other sites.
Hospital-level variation
The hospital table shows the spread across the province. The average wait before first assessment ranged from 0.5 hours at Southlake Regional Health Centre, the lowest figure, to 3.2 hours at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, the highest figure in the list, against a provincial average of 1.7 hours. Judge a hospital against that provincial average and against its own monthly trend, not against the single best result.
Filtering and keeping comparisons valid
The dashboard filters by hospital, city, postal code, LHIN (RLISS), region and hospital type. Data are refreshed monthly from CIHI’s NACRS. Scheduled visits and patients who left without being seen or triaged are excluded, so the figures do not cover those visits.
Where to find hospital-by-hospital emergency wait times in Ontario?
Ontario Health publishes an emergency department dashboard with wait times for individual hospitals. You can filter results by hospital, city, postal code, LHIN (Local Health Integration Network), region and hospital type. According to Ontario Health (2026), the provincial average first assessment wait in January 2026 was 1.7 hours, down from 2.2 hours in January 2025. Hospital-level averages vary widely: Southlake Regional Health Centre had the lowest at 0.5 hours, and Cambridge Memorial Hospital had the highest at 3.2 hours.
Before comparing two hospitals, confirm which measure you are reading. The dashboard reports two separate timings:
| Measure | Definition |
|---|---|
| First assessment wait | Time from triage or registration to the first examination by a physician, nurse practitioner or dentist |
| Length of stay | Time from triage or registration to admission or discharge |
Targets are 4 hours for low-acuity non-admitted patients and 8 hours for high-acuity non-admitted and admitted patients. Provincial averages for January 2026 were 3 hours for low-acuity non-admitted patients (77% within target), 4.5 hours for high-acuity non-admitted patients (89% within target) and 20.3 hours for admitted patients (26% within target).
A practical comparison method:
- Filter by postal code or city to find the hospitals that serve the neighbourhoods you are considering.
- Compare the first assessment wait first, since it reflects the time to first clinician contact.
- Check the reporting month. Data is refreshed monthly from the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS), maintained by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
- Keep in mind that scheduled visits and patients who left before being seen or triaged are excluded, so the figures do not capture everyone who came in.
Average Wait Times in Ontario: Where Do Things Stand?
In January 2026, the average wait in Ontario before a patient’s first assessment (by a physician, nurse practitioner or dentist) in an emergency department was 1.7 hours, according to Ontario Health. That is down from 2.2 hours in January 2025 and 2.1 hours in December 2025. The measure runs from triage or registration to the first examination by a physician, nurse practitioner or dentist, so it captures the delay at the front door rather than the full visit.
Total time in the department depends largely on whether the patient is admitted. Ontario Health’s January 2026 figures for length of stay are summarized below.
| Patient category | Average length of stay | Target | Share within target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low acuity, not admitted | 3 hours | 4 hours | 77% |
| High acuity, not admitted | 4.5 hours | 8 hours | 89% |
| Admitted to hospital | 20.3 hours | 8 hours | 26% |
Admitted patients are the outlier. Their average stay is more than twice the 8-hour target, and only about one in four stays within it.
Provincial averages hide wide local variation. Hospital-level first-evaluation waits ranged from 0.5 hours at Southlake Regional Health Centre, the lowest value in the table, to 3.2 hours at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, the highest, against the provincial figure of 1.7 hours. When comparing places to live, the hospital that serves a specific area is a more useful reference than the provincial average.
Ontario Health’s dashboard can be filtered by hospital, city, postal code, RLISS (LHIN), region and hospital type. The dashboard can also be filtered by postal code, which helps locate hospitals near a given address. Data are refreshed monthly from the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s NACRS database. Scheduled visits and patients who left without being seen or triaged are excluded, so the figures reflect unplanned visits that were processed.
Wide Gaps Between Hospitals
The provincial average hides large differences between individual emergency departments. In January 2026, the average wait before first assessment in Ontario was 1.7 hours. The hospital-by-hospital table shows a spread from 0.5 hours at Southlake Regional Health Centre to 3.2 hours at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, according to Ontario Health (2026). The longest wait on that list is more than six times the shortest.
| Reference point | Average wait before first assessment, January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Shortest: Southlake Regional Health Centre | 0.5 hours |
| Ontario average | 1.7 hours |
| Longest: Cambridge Memorial Hospital | 3.2 hours |
The wait before first assessment runs from triage or registration until the first examination by a physician, nurse practitioner or dentist. Scheduled visits and patients who left before being seen or triaged are excluded. A low figure therefore reflects unscheduled patients who were processed, not every person who arrived at the site.
To compare hospitals for a residential decision:
- Use the Ontario Health dashboard to filter by hospital, city, postal code, LHIN region or hospital type. This identifies the sites near the address under consideration.
- Compare each site with the provincial average of 1.7 hours, not with a single neighbouring hospital.
- Check the export date. The dashboard is refreshed monthly from CIHI’s NACRS data, so a figure is valid only for the month it covers.
Admitted patients wait much longer
Length of stay in Ontario emergency departments depends heavily on whether the patient is admitted to hospital. Ontario Health reports average length of stay separately by acuity group, and the gap is widest for admitted patients. According to Ontario Health, the average stay in January 2026 was 20.3 hours for admitted patients, compared with 4.5 hours for high-acuity patients discharged home and 3 hours for low-acuity patients. Only 26% of admitted patients stayed under the 8-hour target.
| Patient group (January 2026) | Target | Average length of stay | Share within target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low acuity, not admitted | 4 hours | 3 hours | 77% |
| High acuity, not admitted | 8 hours | 4.5 hours | 89% |
| Admitted to hospital | 8 hours | 20.3 hours | 26% |
Length of stay is measured from triage or registration until admission or discharge. For admitted patients, the clock therefore covers the full period spent in the emergency department before a ward bed is assigned.
The figures above are provincial averages. To compare individual hospitals on admitted-patient stays, use the dashboard’s filters:
- Filter by hospital, city, postal code, LHIN region or hospital type.
- Read length of stay by acuity group against the 4-hour or 8-hour target, not the overall average.
- Check the month of the export. Data is refreshed monthly from CIHI’s NACRS, and scheduled visits and patients who left without being seen are excluded.
How to read the data without making mistakes
Ontario emergency wait data measures two different things, and they should not be compared directly. The wait before first assessment runs from triage or registration until a physician, nurse practitioner or dentist first examines the patient. The length of stay runs from triage or registration until admission or discharge. In January 2026, the average wait before first assessment across Ontario was 1.7 hours, while the average length of stay depended heavily on the patient’s acuity, as shown below.
| Patient group (January 2026) | Average length of stay | Share within target |
|---|---|---|
| Low acuity, not admitted | 3 hours | 77% within the 4-hour target |
| High acuity, not admitted | 4.5 hours | 89% within the 8-hour target |
| Admitted to hospital | 20.3 hours | 26% within the 8-hour target |
Source: Ontario Health, January 2026 dashboard.
Several checks help avoid misreading the figures:
- Use the same period for comparisons. The Ontario average was 2.2 hours in January 2025, 2.1 hours in December 2025 and 1.7 hours in January 2026. Compare months with the same month of the previous year where possible.
- Read averages alongside the hospital range. In January 2026, hospital averages ranged from 0.5 hours at Southlake Regional Health Centre to 3.2 hours at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, against a provincial average of 1.7 hours.
- Check the exclusions. Scheduled visits and patients who left before being seen or triaged are not included, so the figures do not capture everyone who came through the door.
- Filter by location. The dashboard can filter by hospital, city, postal code, RLISS (LHIN), region and hospital type, which makes it possible to build like-for-like comparisons between neighbourhoods or cities.
The data are refreshed monthly from CIHI’s National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS), as published by Ontario Health.
Do emergency room wait times matter when choosing where to live?
Emergency department (ED) waits are a practical factor when comparing Ontario locations, because they give an indication of how long patients wait at a given hospital, although an average does not predict any individual’s wait. Ontario Health publishes two measures in its monthly dashboard: the first assessment wait, which runs from triage or registration to the first examination by a physician, nurse practitioner or dentist, and the length of stay, which runs from triage or registration to admission or discharge. For January 2026, the provincial average first-assessment wait was 1.7 hours, down from 2.2 hours in January 2025 and 2.1 hours in December 2025, according to Ontario Health (2026).
| Measure (Ontario, January 2026) | Figure | Share within target |
|---|---|---|
| Average first-assessment wait, all EDs | 1.7 hours | Not stated |
| Average length of stay, low-acuity non-admitted patients | 3 hours | 77% within 4 hours |
| Average length of stay, high-acuity non-admitted patients | 4.5 hours | 89% within 8 hours |
| Average length of stay, admitted patients | 20.3 hours | 26% within 8 hours |
Provincial averages hide large local differences. In the hospital-by-hospital table, first-assessment waits ranged from 0.5 hours at Southlake Regional Health Centre to 3.2 hours at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, the highest figure in the table.
To use the dashboard for a location comparison:
- Filter by city or postal code to find the hospital that would serve a given address.
- Compare that hospital’s first-assessment wait with the 1.7-hour provincial average.
- Check length of stay separately for admitted patients, since their figures are far longer than the other two categories.
- Note that scheduled visits and patients who left without being seen or triaged are excluded, so the published figures describe patients who were assessed.
Frequently asked questions
What does “wait before first assessment” measure?
It is the time from triage or registration until a physician, nurse practitioner or dentist first examines the patient. The average for Ontario was 1.7 hours in January 2026, according to Ontario Health (2026). This measure does not include treatment or admission time.
Can these averages tell me which emergency department to use?
No. The dashboard can be filtered by hospital, city, postal code and region, but an hospital’s average does not predict how long an individual will wait, and the nearest hospital may not be the one you use. For a medical emergency, call 911 rather than choosing a site by its wait times.
Did waits in Ontario really fall between January 2025 and January 2026?
The reported provincial average fell from 2.2 hours to 1.7 hours, but Ontario Health added 43 sites in December 2025. The hospital set in the two months may differ, so the drop does not establish a like-for-like improvement.
