ONTARIO — The provincial government has launched an Emergency Department Action Team backed by more than $47 million to help 26 hospitals reduce wait times and improve patient flow.

The team will work with Ontario Health and participating hospitals to identify bottlenecks, redesign processes and spread practices that shorten the time patients spend waiting for assessment, admission or discharge, the province said Wednesday.

Process changes at 26 hospitals

Ontario says the program will use Lean improvement methods, a structured approach intended to remove unnecessary steps and delays. The release does not list every participating hospital or provide hospital-by-hospital funding amounts.

The province said average emergency-department wait time to an initial physician assessment has improved by seven per cent. That province-wide figure does not establish how individual hospitals are performing, and the government did not set a single target date for the action team’s work.

Pressure remains across the system

Emergency departments face congestion when high patient volumes combine with staffing constraints, delayed transfers and shortages of inpatient or community-care capacity. The action team is intended to focus on operations inside hospitals while Ontario continues separate health-infrastructure and staffing programs.

The announcement is a government program commitment; its effect on wait times will depend on implementation and measurable results at the participating sites.

Source: Ontario Ministry of Health, October 7.

Lead image: flag of Ontario via Wikimedia Commons; not a photograph of a hospital or the action team.