WINDSOR, ONT. -- Erie Shores Healthcare in Leamington has been recognized as a top performing hospital for lowest cancer surgery wait times — despite COVID-19.
In partnership with the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre, the hospital is being acknowledged by Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) in the annual Performance Award recognitions as among the top-performing and most improved cancer programs in the province.
“This award is strong recognition of the importance we see in providing the people of our community with prompt access to care when they need it most,” Dr. Ross Moncur, chief of staff, said in a news release. “Nothing can be more intimidating than receiving a possible diagnosis of “cancer” and then being made to wait, and our surgeons do their best to minimize this struggle whenever possible."
ESHC’s award is for the performance indicator ‘Cancer Surgery Referral to Consult’ which considers the percentage of patients seen within target for all priority categories for the year, and for surpassing the provincial annual improvement target.
“The ESHC perioperative teams, physicians and regional partners have worked very hard to make these improvements,” Suzanne Webster, operations manager for perioperative services and diagnostic imaging, said. “The result is better, faster service, closer to home for those patients in the Erie Shores area.”
Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) assesses regional cancer programs to monitor progress toward 10 performance indicators and to recognize top performers.
The indicators include symptom screening, wait times, cancer screening rates and other high-priority quality and access metrics.
The annual ESC RCP Summit Awards will be held virtually on Monday, Dec. 7.
ESHC presented the award to its staff on reaching the lowest wait times in the province from referral to consultation with a surgical oncologist within the priority categories.
