Champlain LHIN hospitals to receive $5 million to improve wait times

Dateline:

EASTERN ONTARIO

Lianne Lahaie

Local hospitals that have managed to improve their wait times will receive a financial hand-up from the provincial government.

Last week, the province of Ontario announced its plans to expand the Pay for Results program, which has already helped hospitals across the province make improvements to lengthy wait times.

Hospitals across the province will receive $60 million, to be distributed immediately, to help them fund projects aimed at decreasing overall emergency room wait times and lowering the time patients wait for an initial assessment.

Hospitals will use the funding to do things like expand staffing of emergency department teams and reorganize how these teams interact, to encourage more collaboration and renovate an emergency room to improve patient flow.

Additionally, a $40-million "incentive" fund will reward qualifying hospitals for meaningful emergency room wait time improvements.

The Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), which includes Hawkesbury and District General Hospital (HGH), Glengarry Memorial Hospital and Cornwall Community Hospital, is set to receive about $5.8 million in funding.

HGH communications co-ordinator Martin Lacelle said the hospital will receive about $430,000 in funding, which will be used to continue wait time reduction project.

"We achieved pretty good results with the project we implemented last year and this money will help us to continue that work," Lacelle told The Review during an interview last Friday afternoon. "There are some projects we are still working on and we would like to look at areas such as admission and triage to make further improvements. This funding is definitely good news and will allow us to continue to good work we started."

HGH made the most drastic cuts, slashing its wait times in half, making it the most improved hospital for emergency room wait times in Ontario under the program.

In 2009, the hospital received nearly half a million dollars to look at ways to speed up wait times in its emergency room. The money came from the Ministry of Health's Emergency Room Waiting funding.

Wait time statistics released by the ministry last year indicated that many patients in serious condition, requiring admittance, waited upwards of 24 hours. This is three times the provincial average.

Hawkesbury also had the second-worst wait times within the Champlain LHIN. Pembroke surpassed it with wait times three hours longer for patients with the same requirements.

Last year's data indicated that Hawkesbury's wait times for serious conditions far exceeded the provincial eight-hour target.

In 2009, the wait time for complex cases in the emergency room was eight hours. Currently, the wait time has dipped to about 6.8 hours.

For minor cases, 2009 statistics show the average wait time was four hours. Currently, the wait time sits at about 2.7 hours.

"We are pleased with these improvements and we believe our patients are pleased as well," Lacelle said. "Reducing wait times by even a small amount is a step in the right direction. We are providing better patient care."

According to wait times listed on the provincial Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's website, the wait time for complex conditions at HGH are listed as 12.2 hours, while wait time for minor cases is listed at 5.5.

When asked why the ministry's numbers are so much higher than those reported by hospital administration, Lacelle said the ministry uses the "90th percentile" when measuring wait times, meaning the numbers do not reflect what is going on in hospital emergency rooms.

"The province does not measure wait times the same way we do," he explained. "The way the province measures it, they don't include the person who only waited 20 minutes or an hour. They record the 90th percentile.

"We look at every case and use 100 per cent of the data. That's why our numbers are lower, because every wait time is included."

The Cornwall Community Hospital will receive $800,000 in funding. Nine out of 10 patients with complex conditions wait more than 20 hours in Cornwall, which is 12 hours longer than the provincial target. As for minor conditions, Cornwall's hospital meets the provincial target of four hours.

However, rumours are circulating that Cornwall Community Hospital, along with the Ottawa Hospital's General Campus, may have to give back some of the money they received under the program - for failing to meet provincially-set wait time targets.

Champlain LHIN CEO Dr. Robert Cushman said, "The decisions aren't final for those two hospitals yet."