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BC is active at the federal, inter-provincial and local levels to help improve
the data used to determine wait times.
- BC is working with Canada
Health Infoway and
other national institutions to improve access to accurate health information
and establish common standards to define and measure wait times for surgery
in all provinces
- BC and other provinces and territories have endorsed national wait time
benchmarks for a number of key surgical procedures
- BC’s Provincial Surgical Services Project brings
government, health authorities and physicians together to develop new tools
to help assess patients and manage wait lists more effectively
PSSP: A New Approach to Waitlist Management
The Provincial Surgical Services Project (PSSP) is a collaborative, province-wide
project to improve to access to surgery in BC.
A major task is to create a Surgical Wait List Registry that produces more
clinically relevant, accurate and comprehensive information. Surgeons will
be use consistent processes to classify their patients’ surgical needs,
patients will be ensured timely access to surgery, in relation to their need
and with agreed time frames.
New clinical assessment tools for 12 surgical specialities were tested
at hospitals across the province in 2005, with their full introduction
starting in 2006. The specialties are cardiac, thoracic, orthopedic,
general, oral, vascular and plastic surgery, as well as gynecology, ophthalmology,
otolaryngology, urology and neurosurgery.
These initiatives will provide patients with faster, more equitable access to
the surgery they need. With this project British Columbia continues to lead other
provinces in improving the medical system’s response to durgical demand.
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