New data released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) shows Manitoba’s plan for lowering emergency wait times in Winnipeg is working.
“At a time when emergency wait times are increasing across Canada, we are seeing dramatic across-the-board improvements at hospitals throughout the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority,” said Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen. “We are bringing down wait times, improving patient care and delivering on our promise to heal our health system.”
The minister noted no other health region in the country saw a bigger decline in 90th percentile wait times, with the WRHA clocking a 42-minute year-over-year improvement in 2017-18. Additionally, the WRHA saw a dramatic 25.1 per cent improvement in length of stay for admitted patients in emergency departments. The WRHA’s time in this category is now better than the Canadian average.
The numbers have continued to improve since the end of the fiscal year, which marked the end of CIHI’s reporting period. Since April, 90th percentile wait times have fallen a further 4.5 per cent for emergency care and 12 per cent for length of stay.
“This data shows emergency wait times in Winnipeg are not only at the lowest point in at least the past eight years, but that we are on the right path to ensuring Winnipeg will soon no longer have some of the longest emergency wait times in Canada,” said Friesen.
Additionally, the CIHI data showed the WRHA is meeting or beating the Canadian average on 19 of 30 health indicators. The independent organization singled out the region as being a top performer in a number of areas including medical and surgeon readmissions, self-injury hospitalizations and caring for personal care home residents with depression.
“Health-care professionals have always been the strongest part of our health system,” said Friesen. “We congratulate them on their continuing hard work and dedication to ensuring their patients receive better health care sooner.”
