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 Western Zone |
6 days |
5 days |
7 days |
4 days |
NSHA Eastern Zone |
7 days |
5 days |
7 days |
5 days |
NSHA Northern Zone |
7 days |
3 days |
8 days |
5 days |
IWK |
6 days |
4 days |
21 days |
7 days |
Non-Urgent
Facility | 90% (Wait 1) | 50% (Wait 1) |
90% (Wait 2)![]() |
50% (Wait 2) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Valley Regional clinics |
21 days |
8 days |
17 days |
9 days |
Yarmouth Regional clinics |
14 days |
6 days |
20 days |
14 days |
NSHA Clinical Virtual Care Team |
50 days |
7 days |
27 days |
13 days |
Windsor clinic |
31 days |
15 days |
46 days |
31 days |
Guysborough Antigonish clinics |
35 days |
21 days |
62 days |
33 days |
IWK |
119 days |
59 days |
91 days |
39 days |
South Shore Regional clinics |
43 days |
25 days |
92 days |
28 days |
Cape Breton Regional Municipality |
211 days |
176 days |
107 days |
48 days |
Aberdeen Regional clinics |
94 days |
50 days |
113 days |
15 days |
Cumberland County clinics |
26 days |
16 days |
176 days |
8 days |
Colchester Regional clinics |
41 days |
27 days |
351 days |
189 days |
Rural Cape Breton clinics |
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