- Northern Health assigns an allotted amount of surgery time to each surgeon.
- Once a surgeon sees a patient, their office submits a booking request to the OR booking office. A patient's waiting time for surgery is directly linked to their classification (elective, urgent and semi-urgent). Your surgeon's office can advise you of your classification.
- It has been our experience that surgeon's offices are not able to give any sort of accurate estimate other than an approximation of months due to the fluidity of their waiting lists. Surgeons' offices have cancellation lists, which you can ask to have your name placed on.
- If you feel your surgical condition has deteriorated, it is important that you bring these concerns to the attention of your surgeon. They may be able to update your priority level, if appropriate. You may also wish to ask whether he has a cancellation list to which you can be added if you are available at short notice. Alternatively, you may wish to ask your family physician to refer you to a different surgeon nearby who may have a shorter wait time.
- Increasing levels of pain should be brought to the attention of your family doctor so this can be addressed.
Surgical Wait Times website
The Ministry of Health has a Surgical Wait Times website that is designed to offer you more information about wait times for elective surgical procedures in British Columbia for adult and pediatric patients. This waitlist data is based on cases that have been completed which does not reflect people who are still waiting.
Northern Health continually monitors and tracks data and information to assess how well the organization is meeting its goals and objectives.