ER Compass
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Northumberland Hills Hospital

Cobourg, ON · Hospital website ↗
Open 24/7☎ (905) 372-6811
5h 18m
current emergency wait
Medium confidence, scraped from the hospital's public page, updated 4 min ago
Posted by the hospital · 2026-10-28T07:20:21+00:00
vs its typical now
+1h 40m
usually about 3h 38m at this hour
Ontario rank
#47 / 53
among ERs reporting now, shortest first
calmest hour
8am
typically 3h 43m
Busier than usual for this time of day (~87th percentile of this ER's own posted-wait history at this hour, based on 262 past readings)
Long wait posted here right now — a nearby ER may be seen sooner ↓
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Patients waiting
5
In the ED now
28
Weather now
8°C
Air quality (AQHI)
2

When this ER is busiest

Based on our archive, this emergency room is typically busiest around 10pm and on Tuesdays, and quietest around 8am and on Saturdays.

4h5hcalmest
12a6a12p6p11p

Over the last month its posted wait has typically been about 4h 16m, ranging roughly 2h 43m to 5h 41m.

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.

Busiest hours, by day
Average emergency wait at Northumberland Hills Hospital by day of week and hour of day, in minutes
01234567891011121314151617181920212223
Sun275273267252246242251242214221234230228220236240256272279278292295299304
Mon269264269266233252232202194216225228228249266286309327332326331340337360
Tue341338361318259240243245234250232247248242268273295307292302307323329320
Wed312310281284289257244223218235237240242247253277300305318320326333336332
Thu317333365339329301270238227209218227222220240259265281288296314316325318
Fri316317313322296285278289284251232235222221230230235253264281294286274272
Sat274270259254263253254222192188199199203199201210222235244259263274279266

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 18m right now, and this ER's usual pattern points to it holding near 5h 34m 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 68.0 h, this ER's posted wait refreshes about every 68 min, has ranged 1h 3m–5h 37m.

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 ~5h 6m.

For comparison, the wait this ER has posted runs a median of ~4h 30m 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 ~20h 54m 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 Ontario (CIHI)

half of discharged ED visits finish within ~2.3–3.7 h; 9 in 10 within ~8.3 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

Peterborough Regional Health Centre
Peterborough · 38 km away
—
Lakeridge Health - Bowmanville
Bowmanville · 39 km away
2h 9m
Campbellford Memorial Hospital
Campbellford · 49 km away
—
Quinte Healthcare Corporation - Trenton Memorial Hospital
Trenton · 51 km away
—
Lakeridge Health - Oshawa
Oshawa · 54 km away
58 min
Ross Memorial Hospital
Lindsay · 60 km away
3h 18m

Frequently asked questions

How long is the ER wait at Northumberland Hills Hospital right now?
As of the latest update, about 5h 18m to be seen at Northumberland Hills Hospital. 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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