Presenter: Professor William Cole
Synopsis:Timely access to health care is a high priority in many countries, including Australia and Canada. In 2004, the Ontario Child Health Network established the first Canadian pediatric surgical wait times system. It used diagnosis and acuity based maximum waiting times. Following its success, the Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Centres supported a proposal from the Pediatric Surgical Chiefs of Canada to expand the project nationally. In 2007, Federal Government funding was received to support the Canadian Pediatric Surgical Wait Times Project in all Canadian pediatric hospitals. Initially the project focused on several surgical specialties but since 2009 it has encompassed all scheduled pediatric surgery. Individual hospitals are able to compare their performance with the performances of other hospitals. Problems and solutions are shared between the hospitals. The greatest value of the project comes from the effective use of the surgical wait times data to improve access to surgical services in individual hospitals. This talk will describe the Pediatric Surgical Wait Times Project which can be used as a model for measuring, monitoring and managing access to any clinical service.
Professor William Cole, graduated from the Medical School of the University of Melbourne, and then trained in general and orthopaedic surgery. He undertook a fellowship at McGill University where he developed his laboratory and clinical interests in genetic disorders of the musculoskeletal system. In 1977, he joined the Orthopaedic Department of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and shortly after was appointed as an Associate Professor of Surgery and later inaugural Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in the Departments of Pediatrics and Surgery, University of Melbourne. In 1992, Dr. Cole moved to Toronto as Professor of Surgery, University of Toronto; and Director of Orthopaedics, Hospital for Sick Children. Since 2009, Dr. Cole has been Director of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Alberta, and Stollery Children’s Hospital, in Edmonton. Dr. Cole has been part of the Canadian Pediatric Surgical Wait Times Project, the focus of today’s talk, since its inception.
Grand Round presented on 19 September 2012