ER Compass
live + archived ER waits

Foothills Medical Centre

Level 1 trauma centre, in a life-threatening emergency call 911; paramedics assess you and take you to the right hospital. Otherwise go to your nearest ER, which can stabilise and transfer if needed, don't drive past a closer one on a guess.
Source: Provincial trauma system. Trauma designations are point-in-time and can change; treat this as background, not routing advice.
Calgary, AB · Hospital website ↗
Open 24/7☎ (403) 944-1110
5h 30m
current emergency wait
High confidence, official hospital feed, updated 11 min ago
Busier than usual for this time of day (~86th percentile of this ER's own posted-wait history at this hour, based on 399 past readings)
Alberta ranking right now: #16 of 23 reporting ERs, shortest wait first. Long wait posted here right now — a nearby ER may be seen sooner ↓
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Call 911 for an ambulance if you need one.

Weather now
27°C
Air quality (AQHI)
4

When this ER is busiest

Based on our archive, this emergency room is typically busiest around 3am and on Tuesdays, and quietest around 7pm and on Sundays.

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Over the last month its posted wait has typically been about 5h 4m, ranging roughly 3h 13m to 6h 54m.

For a non-urgent visit, a calmer hour usually means a shorter wait; in an emergency, go to the nearest ER no matter the time.

Next 12 hours

The wait is about 5h 30m right now, and this ER's usual pattern points to it holding near 5h 53m over the next 12 hours.

A projection from this ER's own history, not a guarantee. Live conditions can change quickly.

How reliable is this number?

Over the last 46.3 h, this ER's posted wait refreshes about every 14 min, has ranged 1h 42m–6h 33m.

Measured from our own archive of what this hospital posted. See how we check accuracy

Getting there

Logistics from OpenStreetMap, to help plan your arrival, not medical guidance. In an emergency, go straight to the nearest entrance and ask staff.

Time to be seen (CIHI)

Officially, 9 in 10 patients here were seen by a physician within ~7h 30m.

For comparison, the wait this ER has posted runs a median of ~4h 43m over the stretch we've tracked it, the typical live estimate, where the CIHI figure above is the long-wait tail (the slowest 1 in 10).

This hospital, 90th-percentile time from triage to first physician assessment. CIHI, fiscal 2024–2025. Source ↗

If you're admitted (CIHI)

If you're admitted to hospital from here, the wait for an inpatient bed can be long: 9 in 10 admitted patients spent under ~25h 24m in the ED.

Most ER visits end in discharge and are far shorter, this is the admitted-patient (boarding) figure. This hospital, 90th-percentile total ED time for admitted patients. CIHI, fiscal 2024–2025. Source ↗

Typical in Alberta (CIHI)

half of discharged ED visits finish within ~2.4–4.1 h; 9 in 10 within ~10.2 h.

Province-wide total time in the ED (arrival to leaving), Apr–Sep 2025, a ballpark where there's no live wait, not this hospital's posted number.

Nearby emergency rooms

Frequently asked questions

How long is the ER wait at Foothills Medical Centre right now?
As of the latest update, about 5h 30m to be seen at Foothills Medical Centre. The figure refreshes roughly every 10 minutes and is the hospital's own live estimate, not a guarantee: an emergency room always treats the sickest patients first, so your own wait can differ.
What does the wait time actually measure?
Usually the estimated time to be seen by a physician, but Canada has no common definition. Quebec publishes stretcher occupancy, New Brunswick length of stay, and others an estimate of the wait to be seen, so we keep each province in its own units and never blend them into one misleading number.
How accurate are these ER wait times?
They are the live estimates each hospital publishes, refreshed about every 10 minutes; we stamp every reading with the moment the hospital said it was current and flag a feed that goes stale. They are estimates, not guarantees, an emergency room always sees the sickest patients first, so your own wait can differ. We also backtest our forecasts against what hospitals post next; see the accuracy page.
Should I go to the ER, or somewhere else?
For anything life-threatening, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room now, never wait for a shorter posted time. For a non-urgent problem, calling 811 (free 24/7 health advice), a walk-in clinic, or a pharmacist is often faster. When in doubt, get checked.

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