About ER Watch Nova Scotia

ER Watch shows at a glance whether each emergency department in Nova Scotia is open right now, and when that's expected to change. It's an unofficial site, run by a Nova Scotian, and is not affiliated with Nova Scotia Health or the IWK.

In an emergency

• Call 911 for a medical emergency. Paramedics know which emergency departments are open.
• Call 811 to talk to a registered nurse about where to go, any time.
• For urgent but not life-threatening problems, virtual urgent care may be available, including at some sites while their emergency department is closed.

How it works

• Every 5 minutes, ER Watch reads Nova Scotia Health's service status page, where temporary closures are posted.
• Each notice is read by an AI model (Anthropic's Claude) to work out when the closure starts and ends. The notice is always shown word for word on the site's page, so you can check our reading.
• Regular hours come from each site's page on Nova Scotia Health's website. Sites that aren't open 24 hours, and urgent treatment centres, show as closed outside their hours.
• If Nova Scotia Health's page can't be read, or a notice can't be understood, the site shows as unknown, never as open.
• When a notice says a site is closed "Thursday and Friday" without saying when it reopens, the site shows as may be closed after Friday until the notice comes down or Nova Scotia Health's hours show it open.

Sources

• Nova Scotia Health: service statuses, closures and cancellations
• Nova Scotia Health's location pages, for hours and addresses
• Nova Scotia open data, for the list of emergency sites the province reports on

The IWK Health Centre's children's emergency department is run by IWK Health and doesn't post on Nova Scotia Health's page, so it shows its regular hours only.

Contact

Spotted something wrong? Email hello@erwatch.ca.