2009-06-10
11:00:21
The Ontario Health Quality Council says the majority of Ontario cancer patients who need urgent surgery within two weeks are waiting twice that time for their operation.
Council chair Lyn McLeod says some health care wait times have been reduced over the past few years, but not all.
"Thanks to Ontario's Wait Time Strategy, waits have been greatly shortened for cataract surgeries, hip and knee replacements, and some cardiac procedures," says McLeod. "But when half of cancer patients who need urgent surgery have to wait longer than is medically acceptable, when waits for MRI scans are three to four times longer than the target, and when waits for nursing home spaces have doubled in just two years, it's pretty clear that everyone involved in delivering healthcare has to take action."
McLeod adds it's very important that the controversy surrounding the management of eHealth Ontario doesn't push back the province's 2015 date for implementing electronic health records.
