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Avg. Wait (Mins):

Is the average wait time for the last hour for each priority category. This time can be affected by higher priority categories.

People Waiting:

Is the number of people that have been assessed and given a 'priority category', but not yet treated by a nurse or doctor.

When a patient visits an Emergency Department, anywhere in Australia or New Zealand, the triage nurse carries out an assessment of how urgent the patient's condition is. Each patient is assigned a triage category from 1 to 5 on the Australasian Triage Scale.

According to the best practice guidelines, patients must be seen for medical assessment and treatment within the following times:

• Category 1 patients must be attended to immediately (e.g. cardiac arrest)
• Category 2 patients attended to within 10 minutes (e.g. severe blood loss)
• Category 3 patients attended to within 30 minutes (e.g. head injury but conscious)
• Category 4 patients attended to within 60 minutes (e.g. sprained ankle, possible fracture)
• Category 5 patients attended to within 120 minutes (e.g. cut not requiring stitches)

Patients that are category 1, 2 or 3 will be seen before category 4 and 5, even if they arrive in the department at a later time. If you visit an Emergency Department you can ask the triage nurse what category you have been assigned and this may give you an idea of how long you may be expected to wait.

For additional Emergency Department information, please visit our Quality Performance page.

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