Grand River improves access for patients requiring cancer treatments
Cancer centre project earns recognition from CHEQA
Tuesday October 28, 2008 – Natalie Miller
Grand River Hospital has expedited wait times for patients requiring cancer treatments through a project targeting improved access to care.

In September 2007 when the project began, patients were waiting an average of 5.2 weeks from the point of being seen in the consultation clinic to the point of beginning treatment at the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre in Kitchener, ON. At an evaluation point in May 2008, that wait time was reduced to 3.1 weeks.

Meanwhile efforts to improve access to treatment continue as a result of the lessons learned through the project.

"Access is really a big issue for us and getting patients seen and treated as soon as possible" was the impetus for the project initiated by the out-patient chemotherapy suite's team, says Dr. Craig McFadyen, vice-president of regional cancer services for Waterloo-Wellington.

The project involved studying how long people were waiting after being seen by an oncologist for active treatment.

"We wanted to find ways to (improve) that process and bring down constraints."

Grand River Regional Cancer Centre began by closely monitoring the patients being seen in the clinics from a disease-specific perspective. Through inspection, staff was able to identify people who were being seen in the treatment clinic but didn't necessarily require chemotherapy.

The team was able to expedite treatment for people with emergency needs. The centre also simplified the process of transcribing orders into treatment plans.These were a few of the ways Grand River achieved improved access to care.

The project hasn't gone without recognition.

Grand River was one of five finalists for the 2008 Canadian Healthcare Excellence in Quality Award (CHEQA). A record 32 entries, up from 19 in 2007, were submitted for consideration for CHEQA, Canada's premiere healthcare award which recognizes excellence in quality of care and patient safety.

"It's a great compliment," says McFadyen about Grand River being a finalist.

Entries were submitted over the summer and whittled down to five finalists by an awards committee.

North York General Hospital was named the winner of the 2008 award for its efforts to improve patient flow and reduce wait times throughout the continuum of care.

The winning organization receives $15,000 to further improve its patient safety initiatives and also receives national recognition through press coverage and an award ceremony.

The other three finalists were: Kelowna General Hospital for achieving a ventilator-associated pneumonia rate of zero', Winnipeg Children's Hospital for its implementation of a pediatric rapid response team and Winnipeg Children's Hospital for reducing the rate of central venous line blood stream infections in the pediatric intensive care unit.

— With files from Jason Thompson

— More to come

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