Emergency department wait times in Winnipeg improving

A report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, or CIHI, released Thursday has Winnipeg Regional Health Authority WRHA seeing great (delete this) improvements in emergency department wait times.

A report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, or CIHI, released Thursday has Winnipeg Regional Health Authority WRHA seeing great improvements in emergency department wait times.

The numbers show, nine out of 10 patients in 2016-2017 that visited an emergency room in Winnipeg had their initial exam completed within 5.1 hours, a 27 minute decrease from the previous year.

While the number is still higher than the national average 3.1 hours the WRHA is happy with these results, as it is the biggest improvement across Canada.

“We recognize we still have lots of work to in that area but again our data from April 1st of this year until the end of October actually shows we have made tremendous improvement in that area,” said Lori Lamont, acting chief operating officer & VP, Nursing and Health Professionals, WRHA.

A second number released from CIHI looks at the length of stay for admitted emergency department patients. The time calculates from the moment a patient is registered upon arrival, to when they receive a bed.

In Winnipeg nine out of 10 patients received a bed after 43.5 hours in an emergency department, an eight per cent increase from last year.

Since those numbers were calculated from April 1st to the end of October Lamont says WRHA has seen an even bigger improvement in length of stay.

Patient’s length of stay in Winnipeg has dropped to 30.7 hours, making it lower than the national average 32.6 hours.

Length of stay in Winnipeg has increased eight per cent compared to last year. But that number is still below the Canadian average that increased by 11 per cent.

Lamont says the a real time reporting program, called Oculys, has made a big impact offering health officials faster information on when beds are available in the hospital.

Lamont added the Victoria Hospital has seen the largest improvement in wait times the city.

The WRHA has also updated the electronic wait time clock on their website providing a more accurate time to the public seeking care.

“Not only can the wait times tool provide a more accurate live prediction of a patient’s wait time, but it can also forecast the flurry of activity at individual sites based on historical data, time of day and day of the week,” said Lamont. “Simply click on the name of the hospital you’re interested in to get a predictive graph for the remainder of the day.”

In October three ERs closed in Winnipeg to cut down patient wait times and improve care.

Read more: Health care changes yielding positive results: officials

The province and WRHA said emergency rooms and urgent care wait times decreased more than 13 per cent in October.