One emergency department or minor injury and illness clinic, by facility code, with the time the figures were taken, the number of people waiting, the median wait for all triage categories and for categories 4 and 5, the publisher's data status and the delay in hours it states for the figures.

What unit are the median waits in?

The publisher does not state one in the data. Its emergency department wait time pages show waits in minutes. A dash means no median was given, and those cells are null here with a suppressed flag.

How often does it change?

The publisher refreshes it through the day. This site reads it once a day, so each version is the figures at the time of that read.

Datasets / Queensland / Queensland Health / Emergency department live data, Queensland

People waiting and median waits in emergency departments, Queensland, live

Name: People waiting and median waits in emergency departments, Queensland, live
Creator: Queensland Health
Published: 2026-10-02
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

live

Publisher Queensland HealthUpdated continuouslyLicence CC BY 4.0Latest 2026-10-05Rows 40Fields 8

The current metrics behind Queensland Health's emergency department wait time pages, one row per facility, with the number waiting, the median wait for all triage categories and for categories 4 and 5, a data status and the delay the publisher gives for the figures. Join to the facilities table on facility_code for names and locations.

Also called: QLD ED wait times now, Queensland emergency department current wait, How long is the wait at Queensland emergency departments.

Part of Emergency department live data, Queensland, 3 tables the publisher releases together: Public hospital emergency departments and minor injury clinics, Queensland, live list, Emergency department busyness by day and hour, Queensland.

Before you use it

What is in each row?: One emergency department or minor injury and illness clinic, by facility code, with the time the figures were taken, the number of people waiting, the median wait for all triage categories and for categories 4 and 5, the publisher's data status and the delay in hours it states for the figures.
What unit are the median waits in?: The publisher does not state one in the data. Its emergency department wait time pages show waits in minutes. A dash means no median was given, and those cells are null here with a suppressed flag.
How often does it change?: The publisher refreshes it through the day. This site reads it once a day, so each version is the figures at the time of that read.

Made for agents

Connect your AI agent

Any agent that connects to publicdata.au/mcp can find this dataset, read its 8 fields, count and filter across all 40 rows and diff its versions. Every answer names the version and carries Queensland Health's attribution. No key.

Then ask it: What does People waiting and median waits in emergency departments, Queensland, live hold, and what changed in the newest version?

claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp

One command. No key, no account, no sign-up.

https://publicdata.au/mcp

Streamable HTTP. Cursor, VS Code or any client that connects to a remote MCP server.

Using https://publicdata.au/llms.txt, how many people died on Queensland roads in 2025, by month?

For an assistant that reads the web and has no connector.

ExploreChart every row in your browser

A dashboard over every row. Click to filter, add panels, share a link or embed a frame.

Query APIFilter and count from a URL

aggregate?group=facility_code&metric=sum.waiting

People waiting by facility code: 6 00004, 6 00022, 6 00200, 5 00062.

Download it as Excel, CSV, JSON and 6 more formats

Pick a format and a version. Excel is picked first because it opens in the tools most offices have. The URL is yours to keep. A dated version never changes.

Format

Version "Latest" redirects to the newest version and will change when the publisher releases again. A dated version never changes.

https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/latest/data.xlsx

Download

In your own tools

Use it in Excel, R, Python and more

Excel and Power BI read the CSV from its address and refresh from it. The R and Python packages take any dataset on this site by its slug, so a new dataset needs no new release. The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS, and a query reads only the blocks it touches.

The dated URL in the code never changes. https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/latest/ redirects to the newest version.

https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/latest/data.csv

In Excel choose Data, then From Web, and paste this address. Excel keeps it, so Refresh All reads the newest version. A sheet holds about a million rows; past that, load the query to the Data Model.

https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/latest/data.csv

In Power BI Desktop choose Get data, then Web, paste this address and choose Anonymous when asked how to sign in. A scheduled refresh reads the same address, so the report follows each new version.

library(publicdataau)
df <- pd_read("qld-emergency-department-waits-now")
pd_attribution(df)

install.packages("publicdataau"). pd_read() fetches the version's Parquet file; pd_rows() and pd_aggregate() ask the query API instead, and pd_connect() attaches the DuckDB file.

import publicdata_au as pd_au
df = pd_au.read("qld-emergency-department-waits-now")
df.attrs["publicdata"]["attribution"]

pip install "publicdata-au[pandas]". read() fetches the version's Parquet file; rows() and aggregate() ask the query API, and connect() attaches the DuckDB file.

INSTALL httpfs; LOAD httpfs;
ATTACH 'https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/v/2026-10-05/data.duckdb' AS qld_emergency_department_waits_now (READ_ONLY);
SELECT facility_code, count(*) FROM qld_emergency_department_waits_now.records GROUP BY 1 ORDER BY 2 DESC;

The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS and only the blocks a query touches are read. Parquet works the same way: FROM read_parquet(url).

const res = await fetch("https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/aggregate?group=facility_code&metric=sum.waiting");
const { rows, publicdata } = await res.json();
console.log(rows, publicdata.attribution);

The query API answers a page on any site as well as Node, with no key. It returns the rows and the attribution the licence asks for.

What is in it

Column names are made snake_case and the publisher's original header is kept beside each one. Blank cells are null. Nothing is added, removed, ranked or summarised. Cells were typed and headers were made snake_case. Rows were left alone.

Field	Type	Publisher's header	Note
row_id	integer	_id	The portal's row number.
facility_code	string	FacilityCode	Kept as text to keep the leading zeros.
data_updated	datetime	DataUpdatedTimestamp	In Queensland time.
waiting	integer	Waiting	Empty while the publisher reports the facility closed.
median_wait_all_categories	integer	MedianWaitAllCat	Empty while the publisher reports the facility closed.
median_wait_categories_4_5	integer	MedianWaitCat45	Empty while the publisher reports the facility closed.
data_status	string	DataStatus
data_delay_hours	integer	FacilityDataDelayHours	Empty while the publisher reports the facility closed.
suppressed	array		Names of the fields the publisher suppressed in this row. The cells are null.

Download this table as a data dictionary (Excel), or read it as a Frictionless Table Schema at schema.json. The key is facility_code.

A sample of 10 rows

The ten facilities with the most people waiting when the figures were taken, most first. A blank cell is shown as null.

row_id	facility_code	data_updated	waiting	median_wait_all_categories	median_wait_categories_4_5	data_status	data_delay_hours
1	00004	2026-10-05T06:15:32	6	17	null	Good	4
3	00200	2026-10-05T06:15:32	6	28	null	Good	4
12	00022	2026-10-05T06:15:32	6	null	null	Good	4
15	00062	2026-10-05T06:15:32	5	null	null	Good	4
20	00936	2026-10-05T06:15:32	5	6	null	Good	4
31	00172	2026-10-05T06:15:32	5	null	null	Good	4
24	00016	2026-10-05T06:15:32	4	19	null	Good	4
26	00030	2026-10-05T06:15:32	4	16	null	Good	4
14	00032	2026-10-05T06:15:32	3	10	null	Good	4
18	00246	2026-10-05T06:15:32	3	null	null	Good	4

The first row as JSON

As it appears in data.json.

GET https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/latest/data.json
{
  "row_id": 1,
  "facility_code": "00004",
  "data_updated": "2026-10-05T06:15:32",
  "waiting": 6,
  "median_wait_all_categories": 17,
  "median_wait_categories_4_5": null,
  "data_status": "Good",
  "data_delay_hours": 4,
  "suppressed": [
    "median_wait_categories_4_5"
  ]
}

Query it without downloading

The query API returns only the rows you ask for, as JSON, NDJSON or CSV, from the same typed rows as the files. It needs no key. Build a query here and run it, then copy the URL or the code into your own work.

Try rows or aggregate for this dataset. The query builder needs JavaScript.

How filters work

Each filter is field=operator.value in the query string, and every filter must match. A number or date field compares as a number or date, and a text field compares as text. Values are case-sensitive except with ilike. Prefix not. to negate a filter, as not.eq.value.

Operator	What it matches
eq.value	Equal to the value.
neq.value	Not equal to the value. A blank cell does not match.
gt.value	Greater than the value.
gte.value	Greater than or equal to the value.
lt.value	Less than the value.
lte.value	Less than or equal to the value.
like.text	Matches a pattern where * stands for any run of characters. Case-sensitive.
ilike.text	The same as like, ignoring case.
in.(a,b,c)	Equal to any value in the list. A value cannot contain a comma.
is.null	Blank in the source, or suppressed by the publisher.

Parameter	What it does
select	Fields to return, comma-separated. Every field when absent.
order	field.asc or field.desc, comma-separated. The publisher's row order when absent.
limit	Rows per page, 1 to 10,000. 100 when absent.
offset	Rows to skip. The next URL in each answer sets it for you.
group	On aggregate, fields to group by, comma-separated.
metric	On aggregate, count, sum.field, avg.field, min.field or max.field, comma-separated. count when absent.
format	json, ndjson or csv. JSON carries the provenance header, and the others carry it in response headers.

Without a version the API answers from the newest loaded version, and that answer changes when the publisher releases again. Put versions/<date>/ before rows or aggregate for an answer that never changes. /api/v1/datasets/<slug>/versions lists the loaded versions. The 2 newest versions are loaded; versions lists them.

The API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Above that it answers 429 for 10 seconds with a Retry-After header, a RateLimit-Policy header and a JSON body that gives the limit. Every API answer carries the same RateLimit-Policy. A client should wait the Retry-After seconds, or read the files, which have no limit. openapi.json describes this dataset's query paths for client generators and agents.

https://publicdata.au/mcp is a remote MCP server over Streamable HTTP with the same tools, defined in the same place, so a tool added to the pages is added here too. It needs no key and no account. The row tools are held to the query API's limit of 60 queries in 10 seconds from one address, and each call is two queries because it also counts the matching rows. Add it to Claude Code with claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp, add the URL in Claude as a custom connector, or give it to any client that connects to remote MCP servers. Each queryable dataset is also a resource at https://publicdata.au/d/<slug>/fields.json, which lists its fields with their types, the publisher's descriptions, their ranges and the values they hold, so an agent can read a dataset's shape before it writes a query.

What changed

One version for every release the publisher has made since this site started following the dataset. The date is the day the file changed on the portal.

2026-10-05
40 rows+0 added −0 removed 40 changed8 fieldsutf-8-sig6823f61fe3c3

The publisher serves this as a live feed of what is current, with no change date, so this version is what the feed held when it was fetched, dated by the fetch.
2026-10-04
40 rows+0 added −0 removed 40 changed8 fieldsutf-8-sig65a17597d14b

The publisher serves this as a live feed of what is current, with no change date, so this version is what the feed held when it was fetched, dated by the fetch.
2026-10-03
40 rows+0 added −0 removed 40 changed8 fieldsutf-8-sig1512af4fc7e6

The publisher serves this as a live feed of what is current, with no change date, so this version is what the feed held when it was fetched, dated by the fetch.
2026-10-02
40 rows8 fieldsutf-8-sig11588bd54a9e

The publisher serves this as a live feed of what is current, with no change date, so this version is what the feed held when it was fetched, dated by the fetch.

versions.json · changes.json · history.tar.zst (6.0 KB, every version's Parquet and manifest)

Questions

How do I download People waiting and median waits in emergency departments, Queensland as a CSV file?

Open https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/v/2026-10-05/data.csv today. The same path serves Excel, JSON, Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, NDJSON, Arrow. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same.

Can I open People waiting and median waits in emergency departments, Queensland in Excel?

Yes. https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/v/2026-10-05/data.xlsx is a workbook with the 40 rows on a records sheet, the field list on a second sheet and the provenance on a third. The CSV also opens in Excel. https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/v/2026-10-05/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size.

How often is People waiting and median waits in emergency departments, Queensland updated?

Queensland Health updates it continuously. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes.

Can I use People waiting and median waits in emergency departments, Queensland commercially?

Yes. CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file.

Is this the official source for People waiting and median waits in emergency departments, Queensland?

No. The publisher is Queensland Health, and its page is https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/hospital-performance. This site republishes the publisher's file without changing its content. The original sits beside every version as source.csv with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared.

What this site did to the data. Cells were typed, headers were renamed and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. The publisher's file sits beside every version as source.csv so the change can be checked.

The publisher releases Emergency department live data, Queensland as 3 files at once, so all 3 tables here share a version date.

Attribution and citation

The licence requires the publisher's attribution. We ask that you also name publicdata.au and link to the version you used.

Queensland Health, Queensland Government, Hospital Performance, sourced 4 October 2026, https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/hospital-performance, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/qld-emergency-department-waits-now/v/2026-10-05/

The attribution alone is inside every file. Harvard is the author-date form a report or a brief asks for. Paste the HTML on a web page so the links carry.

Licence record

Queensland Health states the licence, CC BY 4.0, on its own page, which was read and recorded here on 1 October 2026.

Every fetch reads the licence again and stops when it has changed. The fetch that made version 2026-10-05 read it from www.data.qld.gov.au on 4 October 2026.

Also published on

Hugging Faceload_dataset("National-Digital/qld-emergency-department-waits-now")
Kagglewith a starter notebook
ZenodoDOI 10.5281/zenodo.23103349

Each copy carries the same attribution and links back to this page.

For agents and tools

datapackage.jsonFrictionless data package pointing at the latest version
schema.jsonTable Schema for every field
schema.xlsxthe same field list as an Excel data dictionary
versions.jsonevery version with date, rows, fields and hash
changes.jsondiff for every consecutive pair
manifest.jsonwhere the bytes came from and when
Query APIfiltered rows and counts without a download
openapi.jsonOpenAPI 3.1 for this dataset's query paths
explore/charts and dashboards in the browser, shareable and embeddable
index.mdthis page as Markdown

This page carries a schema.org Dataset record and is listed in /.well-known/ard.json and /catalog.json.

Source

Queensland Health publishes this table on www.data.qld.gov.au. Questions about the content go to the publisher. Questions about the files here go to corrections.

Fetched 4 October 2026. Source SHA-256 6823f61fe3c38c4f…

Improve this dataset

This page is built from register/qld-emergency-department-waits-now.yaml on GitHub. Anyone can propose a fix to it, such as a clearer description or a field the publisher renamed, as a pull request.

Report a file that differs from the publisher's · How to contribute