Emergency Mental Health cases are seen immediately. If you are facing a crisis, call the Mental Health Crisis Line at 1-888-429-8167, or call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
Mental Health & Addictions Child and Adolescent Services
Service/Procedure Summary
Wait-times for Community Mental Health and Addictions
The Department of Health and Wellness, Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA), and the IWK Health Centre are working together to improve access to mental health and addictions care and support for Nova Scotians. We are committed to having the right services, in the right place, at the right time, and delivered by the right provider for patients.
In 2018-19 we are standardizing the way we collect and report wait-times for Community Mental Health and Addictions clinic appointments. Wait time standards have been chosen and waits will be reported online by triage level.
A person’s triage level is determined by their condition as assessed by clinicians working in intake or referral. In providing care and treatment based on clinical assessment, people triaged as urgent receive care before people triaged as non-urgent.
- Triage 1: Emergency, no wait--patients immediate access to care through emergency or crisis services
- Triage 2: Urgent, target is within seven days
- Triage 3: Non-Urgent, target is within 28 days
Wait Times
Urgent
Facility | 90% (Wait 1) | 50% (Wait 1) | 90% (Wait 2) | 50% (Wait 2) |
---|---|---|---|---|
NSHA Northern Zone |
7 days |
2 days |
7 days |
5 days |
IWK |
7 days |
4 days |
36 days |
16 days |
NSHA Western Zone |
6 days |
4 days |
--- |
--- |
NSHA Eastern Zone |
7 days |
5 days |
7 days |
3 days |
Non-Urgent
Facility | 90% (Wait 1) | 50% (Wait 1) | 90% (Wait 2) | 50% (Wait 2) |
---|---|---|---|---|
South Shore Regional clinics |
29 days |
7 days |
85 days |
44 days |
Windsor clinic |
26 days |
12 days |
57 days |
23 days |
Valley Regional clinics |
29 days |
14 days |
56 days |
19 days |
Yarmouth Regional clinics |
44 days |
14 days |
20 days |
10 days |
Cumberland County clinics |
34 days |
15 days |
169 days |
20 days |
Aberdeen Regional clinics |
48 days |
26 days |
192 days |
15 days |
Colchester Regional clinics |
42 days |
27 days |
276 days |
124 days |
Guysborough Antigonish clinics |
67 days |
36 days |
68 days |
50 days |
Rural Cape Breton clinics |
105 days |
53 days |
91 days |
16 days |
IWK |
91 days |
68 days |
97 days |
61 days |
Cape Breton Regional Municipality |
155 days |
112 days |
166 days |
56 days |