"ED room heroes & patient frustration levels"

I visited ED three times over three days and cannot speak highly enough of the amazing people who work under such intense pressure!

I noticed high frustration levels amongst those waiting & I'd like to suggest one way that I feel might help manage people's expectations a little better, possibly alleviating some wait room frustrations.

Accessing the Emergency Department Wait Times, available via the Health dept seems to lead people's expectations, also exacerbating misplaced frustrations. While I understand the requirement of these stats, for government purposes & transparency, having these wait times available to the public might create more problems than it helps.

Wait times as listed don't indicate Actual Wait Times, meaning ED staff are dealing with frustrations caused by health department info. Surely the health department doesn't aim to heighten the stress of its awesome workforce, although I think this is one outcome of wait time data being available.

After three days in this environment, I fully get it. I understand how the wait times listed don't reflect anything like the reality of the situation. When the truest of emergencies arrive, they obviously and rightfully need to be prioritised. A fact which everyone waiting in ED understands at least on some level. This necessary fact of ED skews the validity of pubished wait time data. People arrive with their set of expectations, including wait times, which may or not cause frustrations to escalate as quickly as they can seem to.

If the wait times page even had a highlighted reminder that wait times listed are not necessarily a true  reflection of wait times experienced in the ED. Better still, the knowledge of staff in the ED could be used to provide a more accurate picture of someone's time, often before they decide to go to ED. For example on one of my visits, the wait times page stated 67mins, whilst in that same minute I overheard a triage nurse explaining to one patient that they might in fact be waiting for 4-6 hours. If that patient had relied on the wait times data, imagine their rising frustration levels, especially if he had not been given this additional info not always available or given to every patient on arrival.