When B.C.’s health minister promised online wait times for Vancouver Island hospitals earlier this spring, the reaction from many was: finally.

Being able to check ER waits remotely has long been possible at hospitals in Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health authorities. And it’s become a necessity for people as they try to navigate the backlogged health-care system, where it can easily take more than 12 hours to be seen in an emergency department. But almost right after it launched on July 3, people started to notice the online times didn’t match up with the real-world reality.

The Victoria General Hospital wait was listed at three hours and 15 minutes on July 15, but was really five and a half hours when one person arrived, according to a Facebook page tracking ER wait times.

A Victoria mother whose teenaged son had a deep gash in his leg from jumping on a trampoline, saw a 12-hour wait time for Royal Jubilee Hospital’s ER on the new website, only to arrive and find the ER empty, according to the

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