(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)
WINNIPEG — Despite some monthly fluctuations, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says patient wait times to receive care at a hospital are generally trending downward.
The WRHA says median wait times were at or near the two-hour mark during the three years prior to the Healing Our Health System plan, which was rolled out in April 2017.
Median wait times have since improved to 1.60 hours, according to data released Tuesday. The health authority says the exception to those numbers was last winter, when a significant spike in flu cases pushed wait times to the two-hour mark.
“We are pleased with the results we have seen when it comes to reduced wait times in our emergency and urgent care departments,” said Lori Lamont, interim COO for the WRHA.
“We’re in the midst of a system-wide transformation, which was necessary to improve patient care and make the system sustainable. While monthly fluctuations are to be expected, an overall trend of improvement is emerging, which provides us reassurance that our plan to deliver better health care, sooner, is producing the results we expected.”
WRHA’s data also reports the annual median length of stay (LOS) has dropped by more than three hours since the spring of 2017.
