Wait times at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) are a product of our total health-care system.
That according to Adam Topp, president and CEO of the CKHA.
He’s aware they aren’t getting shorter, and remain an ongoing concern.
“Waiting for care is not ideal. We’re working to create an environment where they (patients) wait as little as possible,” he said.
He said it’s not an easy task, as outside forces are at play.
Some wait times are correlated to long-term care, to home care, for example. The emergency department times are correlated to post-acute-care wait times, Topp said. That includes nursing homes, supportive housing and long-term care areas in the health-care system. If there’s a back-up in any of these elements, it can impact the hospital.
“We’ve got about 30 patients a day here at the hospital waiting for care (elsewhere),” he said.
That is something CKHA officials cannot control. What they can control, however, is making use of provincial money to address wait times elsewhere, including diagnostic imaging. Topp said the $1 million recently provided by the Ontario government to help increase the operational capacity of computer tomography (CT) scanning.
“By increasing our operational hours, we are making a clear commitment to reducing wait times and ensuring our patients receive the care they need, when they need it, and where they need it,” Topp said.
