How is the data collected?

Where does the surgical wait time data come from?

The data available on the Surgical Wait Times website comes from the Surgical Patient Registry (SPR). Booking information flows from the surgeon's office directly to the hospital, where it is entered into the hospital's operating room booking system. The same system records the procedures completed that day. Both case booking and case completion data is directly and regularly submitted to the SPR. A monthly extract is provided to the Ministry of Health (Ministry) for reporting purposes.

A minimal amount of data available on the website is not recorded by the SPR, but is submitted monthly to the Ministry by provincial agencies. These include:

BC Cancer Agency - cancer services (radiotherapy)
Cardiac Services BC - heart surgery
Eye Bank of BC - corneal transplants

The BC Transplant Society provides BC transplant statistics.

What type of data is shown on the website?

The SPR captures all surgical procedures that are typically completed in an operating room and are scheduled in the hospital's operating room booking system. The SPR also captures scheduled surgical procedures done outside ORs that typically require operating room-type resources (equipment) or monitoring by an anaesthetist, nurse or radiologist ( e.g. sight restoration procedures done in ambulatory or outpatient clinics).

When does a wait time start? (as reported in the SPR)

For a surgical procedure, the wait time starts when the operating room booking information for a case is received by the hospital.

When does a wait time end? (as reported in the SPR)

The wait time ends when either the surgery is performed; or, the case is removed from the wait list for reasons determined by the surgeon and the patient.

How often is the Surgical Wait Times website updated?

Unless otherwise indicated, the Surgical Wait Times website is updated on a monthly basis.

What kind of data is reported on the Surgical Wait Times website?

Only data on elective surgeries is reported by the Surgical Wait Times website. Provincial totals, as well as, breakdowns by health authority, facility, and surgeon are provided. Please refer to the procedure groupings list for details on what procedures are included.

There are four measures reported on this website: (1) Cases waiting, (2) Cases completed, (3) 50th percentile wait time (median wait time), and (4) 90th percentile wait time. The "(2) Cases Completed" measure is only found within the Provincial Summary reports.

Why are Victoria General Hospital, Royal Jubilee Hospital and Saanich Peninsula Hospital reported together as "Greater Victoria Hospitals"?

Surgeons at these three hospitals practice and share OR time across sites. As all patients share one queue it is not appropriate to report on wait times for each separate hospital. Scheduling is done as efficiently as possible using the operating room capacity of all three hospitals.

Why is the 50th percentile wait time reported rather than an average wait time?

The 50th percentile, or median wait time, is the length of time at which half of the cases that received surgery waited less than this wait time and half waited longer for a specific procedure.

For various reasons, some cases may wait longer than others (e.g. a person may need to control their blood pressure before they are ready-to-treat). Average wait times can be affected by just a few cases that are waiting a long time where medians are not; therefore, the median wait time is a more accurate measure.

How were procedures selected for presentation on the Surgical Wait Times website?

In collaboration with the health authorities and medical consultants, the Ministry looked at all cases reported in the SPR over a nine month period. The highest volume procedures were grouped, creating shorter lists. The top ten procedures in each list were examined to see if further grouping was possible. This became the list for presentation on the Surgical Wait Times website.

Cancer Reporting:

Patient Unavailable Dates:

Definitions

Case: a single patient booked for a single procedure.

Cases waiting: the number of patients waiting for surgery on the last day of the reporting period.

Cases completed: the number of cases that received their surgery during the three month reporting period.

50th percentile wait time (median wait time): For all elective cases receiving surgery during the three month reporting period, half waited less than this wait time and half waited longer for a specific procedure.

90th percentile wait time: For all elective cases receiving surgery during the three month reporting period, 90 per cent waited less than this wait time and 10 per cent waited longer for a specific procedure.

Inpatient Surgery: This is a surgical service provided to patients requiring professional nursing care and observation, daily medical attention, specialized care during the recovery phase and possibly a planned and coordinated program of rehabilitation that can only be carried out properly while the person is a patient in an acute care hospital.

Day Surgery: This is a surgical service provided to patients who do not require inpatient services. Patients are admitted and discharged on the same calendar day, and are usually discharged between one and six hours following the procedure.

Abbreviations:

NR: not reported (e.g. since "all other procedures" includes a wide variety of unrelated procedures, it is not relevant to report a wait time)

NA: not applicable (e.g. when there are no cases completed during the reporting period, it is not applicable to report wait times information)

Privacy:

The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), as data custodian for the SPR, provides the ongoing management for this provincial resource. All B.C. health authorities are committed to maintaining confidentiality and personal privacy and must comply with the provisions of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Visit PHSA's privacy information webpage regarding the use of data from the SPR.

For the purposes of ensuring patient confidentiality, all cases waiting and cases completed fields shown on the Surgical Wait Times website with values less than five are shown as <5.