The Manitoba Government released a Lower Wait Time Strategy today, and has formed a Lower Wait Time and System Improvement Team to guide work aimed at reducing blockages in the health care system and reduce patient wait times in ERs. 

The government strategy includes several initiatives, such as: 

• Improving triage and admission by revamping HealthLinks to create a true 811 service, with improved ability to begin triage on the phone to redirect low acuity patients elsewhere, as well as exploring triage models in the ED that include physicians at triage. 
• Expanding inpatient care to improve patient flow out of the ER, including inpatient ward efficiency, adding endoscopy capacity, and re-establishing the virtual ward model.

We are encouraged to see the strategy include a broader view on inpatient care and other actions that should help to remove bottlenecks for patients who languish for far too long in an ED, and we hope to see more actions aligned with evidence-backed advice, such as the EM:POWER report from the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians.

The government first announced it was creating a strategy back in November. Since then, we have advocated for physician consultation to ensure the strategy is guided by medical expertise and proven research-backed evidence about ER wait times and patient flow. While we have not seen the broader physician engagement we had recommended, we are encouraged to see many physicians on the Team guiding the work (see below). We will continue to press for broader consultation and repeat our offers to help facilitate it. 

The Lower Wait Time Strategy is available to read here.

About the Team

The Lower Wait Time and System Improvement Team is led by Dr. Paul Ratana, provincial specialty lead of emergency medicine at Health Sciences Centre (HSC) Winnipeg, and Dr. Kendiss Olafson, internal medicine and critical care at HSC Winnipeg, with physicians, nurses and allied health professionals with specialties in emergency medicine, internal medicine, neurology, family medicine, anesthesiology and more. The team is supported by experienced process engineers who specialize in streamlining systems to improve services.

Share Your Views

We want to hear from you. Please send your feedback to practiceadvice@​doctorsmanitoba.​ca, including both what you like in the strategy and what actions are needed in your ED or Urgent Care to improve your work environment and patient care.