Patients in Ontario with gastrointestinal (GI) problems will receive quicker access to gastrointestinal surgeries and procedures under a new system of surgical care centres, the Ministry of Health said in a news release this week.
The province said it is taking steps to connect people faster to surgeries and procedures by adding approximately 60,000 gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy procedures at community surgical and diagnostic centres across the province each year.
This will mean creating new health care centres away from hospitals.
“When it comes to wait times for surgeries and procedures, the status quo is not acceptable,” said Jones, in the news release.
“We continue to lead the country with the shortest surgical wait times of any province, and increasing access to GI endoscopy procedures will help improve rapid access to diagnostic care for early disease detection when and where people need it.”
The ministry said it is now accepting applications for new licences at community surgical and diagnostic centres. New are licences expected to be issued starting in Winter 2025 that will connect nearly 60,000 more people to procedures each year, the province said.
This expansion of services will help reduce wait times for GI endoscopy procedures across the province from the date the order/requisition was received to the date people receive their procedure, said the release.
The release did not state how much the new system would cost taxpayers.
Existing community surgical and diagnostic centres have begun their transition to the new Quality Assurance (QA) program, said the release. Routine inspections by Accreditation Canada’s new QA program are set to begin in October.
As legislated in Bill 60 (Your Health Act), all applications must submit a detailed staffing plan, details on how they consulted with health-system partners, show current linkages to the health-care system as well as detailing processes for providing information and obtaining patient consent amongst other requirements, said the release.
No care centre is permitted to refuse an insured service to a patient who chooses not to purchase uninsured upgrades and no patient can pay to receive insured services faster than anyone else, said the release.