ER Compass
live + archived ER waits

St. Joseph's Hospital (Charlton, Hamilton)

Hamilton, ON · St. Joseph's Healthcare - Charlton Campus · Hospital website ↗
Open 24/7☎ (905) 522-1155
1h 24m
current emergency wait
High confidence, official hospital feed, updated 11 min ago
Posted by the hospital · 2026-07-27T22:15:00
Busier than usual for this time of day (~81th percentile of this ER's own posted-wait history at this hour, based on 400 past readings)
Ontario ranking right now: #9 of 54 reporting ERs, shortest wait first.
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Weather now
21°C
Air quality (AQHI)
4

When this ER is busiest

Based on our archive, this emergency room is typically busiest around 6am and on Fridays, and quietest around 4pm and on Sundays.

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Over the last month its posted wait has typically been about 1h 16m, ranging roughly 42 min to 2h 23m.

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 1h 24m right now. If this ER follows its usual pattern, expect it to climb toward roughly 1h 40m 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 46.5 h, this ER's posted wait refreshes about every 15 min, has ranged 26 min–2h 25m.

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)

Across Ontario, 9 in 10 patients were seen by a physician within ~4h 30m.

For comparison, the wait this ER has posted runs a median of ~1h 3m 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).

Province-wide, no hospital-level figure is published for this site. CIHI, fiscal 2024–2025. Source ↗

If you're admitted (CIHI)

Across Ontario, 9 in 10 admitted patients spent under ~44h 24m in the ED waiting for an inpatient bed.

Most ER visits end in discharge and are far shorter, this is the admitted-patient (boarding) figure. Province-wide, no hospital-level figure for this site. 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

Frequently asked questions

How long is the ER wait at St. Joseph's Hospital (Charlton, Hamilton) right now?
As of the latest update, about 1h 24m to be seen at St. Joseph's Hospital (Charlton, Hamilton). 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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