Delaware ER wait times by hospital
How long a typical emergency room visit lasts at 6 Delaware hospitals, from arrival to going home, ranked shortest to longest.
In an emergency, call 911. These are yearly medians, not live wait times. Don't pick an ER from this list when someone needs help now.
Delaware median
3 hr 42 min
+1 hr 14 min vs US US median is 2 hr 28 min
Under 2 hours
None
3 take 4 hours or more
Delaware emergency rooms ranked by median visit time
Times are for patients treated and sent home, not admitted. The bar shows each ER against the slowest in the state; the tick marks the Delaware median.
How to read this list
Each time is the median for a full year, so half of visits were shorter and half longer. Busy hospitals treat sicker patients, so a longer time is not by itself a mark against a hospital. "Left before seen" is the share of patients who walked out before a clinician saw them. How this measure works.
Showing all 6 hospitals
| # | Hospital | Median visit | Left before seen | ER volume | CMS rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nanticoke Memorial HospitalSeaford 4% left before seen Medium volume ★ 3/5 CMS | 2 hr 47 min 55 min faster | 4% | Medium | |
| 2 | Beebe Medical CenterLewes 1% left before seen High volume ★ 3/5 CMS | 2 hr 54 min 48 min faster | 1% | High | |
| 3 | St Francis HospitalWilmington 8% left before seen Medium volume ★ 3/5 CMS | 3 hr 12 min 30 min faster | 8% | Medium | |
| 4 | Bayhealth Hospital, Sussex CampusMilford 3% left before seen High volume ★ 3/5 CMS | 4 hr 12 min 30 min slower | 3% | High | |
| 5 | Bayhealth - Kent General HospitalDover 3% left before seen Very high volume ★ 2/5 CMS | 4 hr 28 min 46 min slower | 3% | Very high | |
| 6 | Christiana Care Health ServicesNewark 6% left before seen Very high volume ★ 4/5 CMS | 4 hr 32 min 50 min slower | 6% | Very high |
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Questions about Delaware ER wait times
Which Delaware ER has the shortest wait?
Nanticoke Memorial Hospital in Seaford, with a median visit of 2 hr 47 min. Beebe Medical Center in Lewes is next at 2 hr 54 min.
Which Delaware ER has the longest wait?
Christiana Care Health Services, at 4 hr 32 min. The busiest emergency departments tend to have the longest visits because they treat more patients and more complex cases.
How long is the average ER visit in Delaware?
The median is 3 hr 42 min, 1 hr 14 min longer than the US median of 2 hr 28 min. None of the 6 Delaware ERs comes in under two hours, and 3 take four hours or more.
Are these live wait times?
No. They are 12-month medians for patients who were treated and sent home, published by CMS. They show what is typical, not what is happening tonight. In an emergency, call 911.
ER wait times in neighboring states
Source: CMS Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting, measure OP-18b (median time from ED arrival to departure for discharged patients), published July 2026. Updated when CMS publishes new data.
Hospitals with too few cases to report are not listed; they still have a page in the Delaware hospital directory. Campuses that CMS reports under one facility number appear once. Not affiliated with CMS.