{
  "id": "addiction-treatment-wait",
  "category": "Health care access",
  "title": "Median wait for a bed in substance use treatment and recovery, B.C.",
  "geography": "British Columbia (health authority-funded beds)",
  "scope": "province",
  "levels": [
    "Provincial (health system)",
    "Health authorities"
  ],
  "plain_question": "How many days does a person referred to a publicly funded treatment and recovery bed wait, at the median, before they start?",
  "value": 26.4,
  "display_value": "26.4",
  "unit": "days, median, 2025/26",
  "period": "Fiscal year 2025/26",
  "period_start": "2025-04-01",
  "period_end": "2026-03-31",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "Fiscal year 2024/25",
    "previous_value": 30.8,
    "change_percent": -14.3
  },
  "breaks": [
    {
      "period": "2024/25",
      "label": "Weighted median from 2024/25"
    }
  ],
  "trend": "improving",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "A shorter wait means people start treatment sooner.",
  "trend_basis": "26.4 days in 2025/26 against 30.8 days in 2024/25, as the Ministry of Health reports them; the 2025/26 target was 30.5 days. Earlier years were measured differently: by the earlier method, 2024/25 was 27.8 days.",
  "since_text": "Target 30.5 days in 2025/26; 30 days in 2026/27.",
  "caveats": [
    "Health authority-funded bed-based substance use treatment and recovery services. Withdrawal management (detox), stabilization and some provincial services are not included.",
    "From 2024/25 the Ministry weights the median by the clients each provider serves; before, it was the median of the providers’ figures. 2024/25 by the old method: 27.8 days. Years on either side of that change are not compared (marked on the chart).",
    "The 2021/22 baseline did not include Northern Health.",
    "No figure for Island Health or Greater Victoria is published; this is the B.C. figure."
  ],
  "charts": [
    {
      "title": "Median days from referral to a treatment and recovery bed, B.C.",
      "fmt": "dec1",
      "unit": "days",
      "breaks": [
        {
          "period": "2024/25",
          "label": "Weighted median from 2024/25"
        }
      ],
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "British Columbia",
          "area": "bc",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2021/22",
              "value": 29.5
            },
            {
              "period": "2023/24",
              "value": 31.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2024/25",
              "value": 30.8
            },
            {
              "period": "2025/26",
              "value": 26.4
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "refs": [
        {
          "key": "moh_tw",
          "style": "target",
          "label": "Ministry of Health target, median days to start bed-based treatment and recovery services (all of B.C.)",
          "short": "Ministry target",
          "area": "British Columbia",
          "source": "Province of B.C., Ministry of Health 2025/26 Annual Service Plan Report (August 2026, page 17)",
          "url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2025_2026/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
          "steps": [
            {
              "start": "2025-04-01",
              "end": "2026-03-31",
              "value": 30.5,
              "doc": "aspr_hlth_2526"
            },
            {
              "start": "2026-04-01",
              "end": "2027-03-31",
              "value": 30,
              "doc": "moh_sp"
            }
          ],
          "end": "Target: 30 days"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2021/22",
      "value": 29.5
    },
    {
      "period": "2023/24",
      "value": 31.0
    },
    {
      "period": "2024/25",
      "value": 30.8
    },
    {
      "period": "2025/26",
      "value": 26.4
    }
  ],
  "refresh_frequency": "Yearly (Ministry of Health Annual Service Plan Report, summer)",
  "source": {
    "name": "Ministry of Health, 2025/26 Annual Service Plan Report",
    "url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2025_2026/default.htm",
    "dataset_url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2025_2026/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
    "download_url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2025_2026/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
    "locator": "Ministry of Health, 2025/26 Annual Service Plan Report, performance measure [1d] “Median number of days between client referral and accessing service for community bed-based treatment and recovery services”",
    "reads": "2024/25 Actual 30.8 days; 2025/26 Target 30.5 days; 2025/26 Actual 26.4 days",
    "earlier": {
      "period": "2024/25",
      "display": "30.8",
      "name": "Ministry of Health, 2024/25 Annual Service Plan Report",
      "url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2024_2025/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
      "page_url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2024_2025/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
      "page": null,
      "reads": "Median number of days between client referral and service initiation for community bed- 29.5 days3 31.0 days 31.0 days 30.8 days4 based treatment and recovery",
      "published": "2025-08-12",
      "note": "By the earlier method, 2024/25: 27.8 days."
    },
    "page_url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2025_2026/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf#page=17",
    "page": 17
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution.",
    "url": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/copyright",
    "open": false
  },
  "verified_text": [
    "Median number of days between client referral and accessing service for community 30.8 days2 30.5 days 26.4 days3 bed-based treatment and recovery",
    "In 2025/26, B.C. did better than the wait time target of 30.5 days for health authority-funded treatment and recovery beds, with an actual wait time of 26.4 days.",
    "targets for 2026/27 and 2027/28 were stated in the 2025/26 service plan as 30 days and TBD",
    "Median number of days between client referral and service initiation for community bed- 29.5 days3 31.0 days 31.0 days 30.8 days4 based treatment and recovery",
    "Based on the previous method, the median wait time in 2024/25 was 27.8 days."
  ],
  "data_published": "2026-08-04",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-13T05:30:15Z",
  "attribution": "Source: Ministry of Health, 2025/26 Annual Service Plan Report. Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.",
  "targets_text": {
    "2025/26": 30.5,
    "2026/27": 30.0
  },
  "licence_type": "public",
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "service result",
  "better_measure": null,
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "The change is 14.3% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": {
      "period": "Fiscal year 2024/25",
      "value": 30.8,
      "text": "vs 2024/25: -14.3%"
    },
    "five_year": {
      "period": "2021/22",
      "years": 4,
      "value": 29.5,
      "comparable": false,
      "text": "vs 2021/22: not comparable"
    }
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "target",
    "rule": "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.",
    "key": "ahead",
    "label": "Target met",
    "arrow": null,
    "rel": -14.3,
    "delta": null,
    "vs": "Fiscal year 2024/25",
    "cur": "Fiscal year 2025/26",
    "why": "26.4 days against the target in force of 30.5 days for this period. At or under the cap reads Target met; over it reads Missed, or Just over target when the gap is 0.5% of the target or less.",
    "change": "14%",
    "one_year": "−14.3%",
    "five": {
      "period": "2021/22",
      "comparable": false,
      "years": 4,
      "text": "not comparable",
      "longest": true
    },
    "year_reading": {
      "label": "Better",
      "key": "better",
      "why": "The change is 14.3% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold."
    },
    "target_source": [
      "Ministry of Health 2025/26 Annual Service Plan Report",
      "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2025_2026/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf"
    ]
  },
  "benchmark": {
    "rung": 1,
    "rung_name": "Adopted target",
    "as_of": "2026-11-12",
    "items": [
      {
        "kind": "target",
        "label": "Adopted target",
        "text": "Adopted target: the Ministry of Health set a target of 30.5 days for 2025/26 and reports that B.C. did better, at 26.4 days (2025/26 Annual Service Plan Report). Its 2026/27 to 2028/29 Service Plan sets 30 days for 2026/27 and leaves later years to be decided. The Ministry notes that its targets were set on the earlier, unweighted method, while the actual figures since 2024/25 are weighted medians.",
        "area": "British Columbia",
        "source": {
          "title": "Ministry of Health 2025/26 Annual Service Plan Report",
          "publisher": "Province of B.C.",
          "date": "August 2026",
          "url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2025_2026/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
          "terms": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/copyright",
          "refresh": "Yearly (August)",
          "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
          "checked": "2026-11-12",
          "key": "aspr_hlth_2526",
          "page": 17
        },
        "documents_checked": null
      }
    ],
    "drawn": [
      "Ministry of Health target, median days to start bed-based treatment and recovery services (all of B.C.)"
    ],
    "rule": "Highest rung found is shown; the site never sets a target. Methods, Targets."
  },
  "benchmarks": [
    {
      "rung": 1,
      "kind": "target",
      "label": "Ministry of Health target, median days to start bed-based treatment and recovery services (all of B.C.)",
      "short": "Target: 30 days",
      "unit": "days",
      "set_by": "BC",
      "instrument": "plan",
      "document": "aspr_hlth_2526",
      "page": 17,
      "area": "British Columbia",
      "fit": "full",
      "same_area": true,
      "polarity": "lower_is_better",
      "chart": 0,
      "value": 30.5,
      "applies_from": "2025-04-01",
      "applies_to": "2026-03-31",
      "path": false,
      "document_url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2025_2026/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
      "applies_here": true,
      "same_measure": true
    },
    {
      "rung": 1,
      "kind": "target",
      "label": "Ministry of Health target, median days to start bed-based treatment and recovery services (all of B.C.)",
      "short": "Target: 30 days",
      "unit": "days",
      "set_by": "BC",
      "instrument": "plan",
      "document": "moh_sp",
      "page": 17,
      "area": "British Columbia",
      "fit": "full",
      "same_area": true,
      "polarity": "lower_is_better",
      "chart": 0,
      "value": 30,
      "applies_from": "2026-04-01",
      "applies_to": "2027-03-31",
      "path": false,
      "document_url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2026/sp/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
      "applies_here": true,
      "same_measure": true
    }
  ],
  "highest_rung": 1,
  "target_status": {
    "method": "standing_target",
    "label": "Target met",
    "key": "ahead",
    "value": 26.4,
    "target": 30.5,
    "calculated_here": false,
    "text": "26.4 days against the target in force of 30.5 days for this period. At or under the cap reads Target met; over it reads Missed, or Just over target when the gap is 0.5% of the target or less.",
    "document": "aspr_hlth_2526",
    "applies_from": "2025-04-01",
    "applies_to": "2026-03-31"
  },
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "BC",
      "name": "Province of B.C.",
      "decides": "Sets provincial standards for health services and appoints Island Health’s board.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "haa3",
          "label": "Health Authorities Act, s. 3",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96180_01#section3"
        },
        {
          "key": "haa4",
          "label": "Health Authorities Act, s. 4",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96180_01#section4"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "IH",
      "name": "Island Health",
      "decides": "Plans and runs health services in the region: which services, which facilities and the programs that deliver them.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "haa5",
          "label": "Health Authorities Act, s. 5",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96180_01#section5"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "Province of B.C.",
  "label_1y": {
    "key": "ahead",
    "label": "Target met"
  },
  "label_long": null,
  "target_line": {
    "form": 1,
    "text": "Target 30.5 · 4.1 days under",
    "target": 30.5,
    "gap": "4.1 days under",
    "comparison": null,
    "applies_here": true,
    "note": null
  }
}