How are wait times at your local hospital? Track emergency rooms across Calgary here

It's been a trying time for Alberta's hospitals, which have seen heavy influxes of patients with respiratory diseases — particularly COVID-19, influenza and RSV — in addition to the regular demands on the health-care system.

At several points during the fall and winter, patients have faced extraordinary wait times when arriving at hospitals pushed to the limits of their capacity.

These wait times can fluctuate greatly from day to day, even hour by hour.

To help you keep an eye on trends, CBC News is employing an automated computer script to regularly monitor the posted wait times at all the emergency departments and urgent care centres in Calgary.

Below you will find a series of charts depicting the wait times at each hospital in the city over the past four weeks. The charts are updated hourly, at one minute past the hour.

• The charts will be continuously updated via automated computer script.
• Bookmark this page to come back to it in the future and check on the latest trends.

The data in the charts represent the estimated amount of time to see a physician when a patient arrives at a hospital, as reported by the Alberta Health Services emergency department wait times website.

These estimates are approximate and don't necessarily represent the exact amount of time everyone will wait. Patients are triaged and critical cases receive care first.

You'll notice the wait times typically spike in the wee hours of the morning, usually between midnight and 5 a.m., then drop back down later in the day.

Alberta Health Services says this is because staffing levels are lower in the early-morning hours.

"While the wait to see a physician may increase overnight, timely assessment by a triage nurse to assess the patient for priority is available the vast majority of the time within minutes of arrival," AHS spokesperson Kristi Bland said.

Urgent care centres

Urgent care centres are also available for patients seeking treatment for less serious medical conditions.

Alberta Health Services describes them as "an option for unexpected but non-life-threatening health concerns."

There are two in the city: a 24-hour facility at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre and a 12-hour facility at the South Calgary Health Centre (open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily).