New IT platform designed to help manage patient flows, wait times at Winnipeg hospitals

The Winnipeg health region is investing $125,000 into a new information technology platform to help manage patient flows and co-ordinate care at local hospitals and other health centres.

The SHREWD platform will give leaders from Shared Health and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) real-time data from a variety of information systems to provide a view of possible pressures across the health-care system, a Thursday release says.

A built-in notification system is included in the platform, which will be used by managers and leaders to assist operational decisions and tackle staffing challenges, patient flows and wait times at emergency and urgent care departments in real-time, the release says.

"Upgrading the technology we use to identify system pressures as they are occurring will allow managers and system leaders to make decisions more quickly," Mike Nader, CEO of the WRHA, said in the release.

Deer Lodge, Misericordia Health Centre and Riverview Health Centre are three Winnipeg hospitals expected to receive the upgraded technology this spring, representing a total investment of $125,000.

Wait times up in January

Shared Health and the WRHA say the overall median wait times at emergency and urgent care departments went up in January to 2.72 hours, a 7.2-minute increase from December.

The 90th percentile, or the top 10 per cent of waits, rose by 18 minutes to 7.52 hours last month.

The increased wait times lcame despite improvements made in December, the release says, but patient volumes decreased minimally from 733.9 per day in December to 730.4 in January.

Emergency or urgent care patients waited a median length of 22.47 hours in January to be admitted to an inpatient unit, the release says, up from 19.82 hours in December.

The overall number of patients who left without being seen also increased last month, to 13 per cent in January from 11.5 per cent in December.

The percentage of patients who left the adult emergency department at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre without being seen increased as well, to 25 per cent in January from 21.8 per cent in December.

Winnipeggers should still seek help during emergencies by calling 911 or going to an emergency department or urgent care centre, Shared Health and the WRHA say, but the sickest and most injured patients will continue to be prioritized.

Wait times for emergency departments, urgent care centres, walk-in connected care clinics and walk-in clinics can be found in real-time online.

The new platform is part of a number of initiatives designed to contain patient flow issues in recent months, the release says, which includes allowing entry-level applicants to become non-certified home care attendants through paid training and scheduling more physician shifts at city hospitals.