Weeks waiting for surgery

The change is 15.7% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.

A lower number means people wait fewer weeks between a surgery being booked and taking place. Royal Jubilee: 5.9 weeks in 2025/26 compared with 7 weeks in 2024/25 (-15.7%); 90% within 28.1 weeks. Victoria General: 7 weeks (90% within 35.1). Island Health: 7.1 weeks (90% within 31.4; was 32.6). B.C.: 6 weeks (90% within 30.6).

Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series. The rule.

Why it matters. Long waits for hip, knee, cancer and other scheduled surgery mean months of pain, worry or time off work. It is one of the few hospital access measures published as open data for this region.

• This is scheduled (elective) surgery only. It is not emergency department wait time, which is a different measure.
• The wait is the median for surgeries that were completed in the year: half of those patients waited less, half waited more. People still waiting are not in this number; see the waiting count in the detail.
• The headline is Royal Jubilee Hospital. Victoria General Hospital is shown beside it; Island Health (all its hospitals, across the island and part of the mainland coast) and all of B.C. are comparison lines.
• The Ministry restates this dataset when reporting requirements change, so past years can be revised.
• The chart shows every fiscal year in the Ministry's annual file, from 2009/10. The Ministry restates the whole file to its current reporting requirements, so the years are on one basis.

Area: Victoria hospitals

The emergency departments of Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals in Victoria, and Saanich Peninsula Hospital in Central Saanich, each reported separately.

Included

• Royal Jubilee Hospital emergency department (the headline)
• Victoria General Hospital emergency department
• Saanich Peninsula Hospital emergency department

Not included

• Urgent and primary care centres and walk-in clinics
• Other Island Health hospitals (included in the Island Health line)

Official definition

• CIHI: Emergency Department Wait Time for Physician Initial Assessment (indicator page)

How the agency describes it: Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals, compared with Island Health and British Columbia.

This number is published by the agency as shown; it is not calculated here. The script reads it from the agency’s own file.

By hospital

• Royal Jubilee Hospital: 5.9 weeks (Fiscal year 2025/26). 90% of people had surgery within 28.1 weeks; 3,976 people waiting at year end; 14,532 surgeries completed.
• Victoria General Hospital: 7 weeks (Fiscal year 2025/26). 90% of people had surgery within 35.1 weeks; 3,438 people waiting at year end; 8,131 surgeries completed.
• Island Health (all hospitals): 7.1 weeks (Fiscal year 2025/26). 90% of people had surgery within 31.4 weeks; 19,457 people waiting at year end; 58,424 surgeries completed.
• All of B.C.: 6 weeks (Fiscal year 2025/26). 90% of people had surgery within 30.6 weeks; 97,963 people waiting at year end; 289,315 surgeries completed.

Published under an open licence: anyone may reuse it with credit. About licences.

Published by

Ministry of Health, Government of British Columbia (BC Surgical Wait Times)

Licence

Open Government Licence - British Columbia

Updated by agency

Annually (quarterly interim files during the year); latest release Aug 12, 2026

Retrieved

Nov 11, 2026, 9:07 PM B.C. time