The Ontario government will provide separate inpatient and outpatient hospital waiting times on the Ministry of Health's Web site after receiving criticism that the current wait times are misleading, Health Minister George Smitherman said on Thursday, the Globe and Mail reports.
Ontario Auditor-General Jim McCarter previously said that patients should take the government's claim of shorter wait times with "a grain of salt" because the Web site combines waiting times for hospital inpatients, who typically need more urgent care and are treated more quickly, with outpatients, who generally wait longer.
Former Sen. Michael Kirby in response to McCarter's comments was asked to conduct a report on how the Ontario government measures and reports hospital waiting times. Kirby did not recommend separating waiting time data, but he said the government should establish an independent agency to measure waiting times for key medical procedures and punish hospitals financially if they do not meet targets.
Smitherman said he supports withholding funds from hospitals that miss targets because it would make them more accountable, the Globe and Mail reports (Howlett, Globe and Mail, 2/2).