Canberra Health Services (CHS) has renamed and updated its patient-facing app, dropping the ACT Health name in favour of Canberra Health Services and changing how wait times are displayed across its services.

The app now shows wait times for all Walk-in Centres, public emergency departments and the GP-led Woden Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. Users can tap on each service to see what it can and cannot treat, alongside current wait times.

CHS has also stopped publishing treatment times on its website, app and digital screens at Canberra Hospital and North Canberra Hospital, showing only waiting times instead. Treatment time varies depending on a patient’s condition and needs. The change brings the ACT in line with NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania, none of which publish average treatment times.

CHS said the language used to explain how wait times are calculated had also been simplified.

Triage arrangements remain unchanged. Emergency department patients continue to be seen in order of clinical urgency rather than arrival time, with critical and urgent cases treated first regardless of how long they have been waiting. Walk-in Centre patients are seen in order of arrival.

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