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BC Surgical Patient Registry

We seek to improve the surgical experience for BC residents by tracking patients waiting for surgery in BC, and monitoring and evaluating surgical wait times.


The BC Surgical Patient Registry is a joint program of the regional health authorities, the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) and Ministry of Health, and is managed by PHSA. 
Our work
The BC Surgical Patient Registry provides a reliable and consistent approach for prioritizing patients’ access to surgery. It provides the most up-to-date information on patients booked for surgery and those who have had their surgery performed. 

Our mission is to collect and standardize quality provincial surgical data for use by surgeons, hospitals and regional health authorities, and the Ministry of Health to enable informed decision-making and to improve clinical outcomes for patients.

The BC Surgical Patient Registry is a provincial system that collects information about patients waiting for and receiving surgery in British Columbia. Its purpose is to provide more accurate and complete information for surgeons, hospitals and the Ministry of Health to improve surgical services for the people of BC. 

The BC Surgical Patient Registry collects standardized information on patients waiting for surgery identified by surgeon, by procedure, by hospital and by health authority. Wait time data is also collected for performed surgical cases. 

The registry utilizes a standard provincial procedure list and standard diagnosis-based prioritization list making it possible to accurately report wait times for the same procedure across all BC hospitals and health authorities. 

Health authorities submit patient-specific booking and post-operative information from their operating room booking systems directly to the web-based registry on a daily basis. 

The BC Surgical Patient Registry also collects provincial data on hip and knee replacements and manages a separate provincial prosthesis library in partnership with BC Clinical and Support Services (BCCSS).

Canadian Joint Replacement Registry (CJRR) 
CJRR serves as the country’s leading source of information on hip and knee replacement surgery. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) uses CJRR and other data sources to understand aspects of joint replacement such as hospitalizations, patient demographics, clinical issues, wait times and outcomes.

In 2011, the Ministry of Health mandated reporting for both hip and knee joint replacements. In October 2012 the SPR office together with the health authorities implemented mandatory collection of CJRR data in the SPR.  In 2016, BC was at 93% compliance.  

Prosthesis information is collected in SPR through nightly batch upload process with the surgery data (Northern Health uses web interface for prostheses submission).  Provincial data is submitted quarterly to CJRR by SPR.   
Patients: 
  • Have better information through their surgeons’ offices and family physicians regarding the relative waiting time for their surgical procedure. 
  • Can be assessed with a higher degree of consistency and standardization, and in the same way as other patients with similar conditions. 
Surgeons: 
  • Prioritize surgical patients using a standard list that is utilized by their peers.
  • Have the ability to query current and accurate waitlist data from the BC Surgical Patient Registry for any of their patients.
  • Have access to real-time waitlists.
  • Can see comparative (patient non-identifiable data) reports for patients waiting or for surgeries completed across their health authority and the province.
Health authorities:
  • Have more accurate and timely data to manage surgical access and resources.
  • Have province-wide standard definitions for patient procedures which allow health authorities to compare surgical access and resource utilization.
  • Have access to aggregated, accurate, comprehensive and timely data to assist in monitoring performance, forecasting need, and reporting on wait time data.
The Ministry of Health:
  • Has access to provincial, standardized, aggregated, accurate, comprehensive and timely data to assist in monitoring performance, forecasting need, and reporting on wait time data. 



Patients

The BC Surgical Patient Registry supports improving the patient experience for people needing surgery in BC. 

If you are waiting for surgery in BC and would like more information on your estimated wait time, first contact your surgeon's office to confirm you are on the surgeon's wait list and that all necessary paperwork has been completed.

To get an idea as to the approximate wait time for your particular surgeon and procedure, check out the Ministry of Health wait time website (see below).

What information is being collected by the BC Surgical Patient Registry?
Your surgeon will collect information that includes your name, address, date of birth, the name of your procedure, the name of your surgeon and the date when you and your surgeon decided to proceed with your surgery. 

This information is then sent to the hospital where your surgery is to be performed and the hospital will enter the information into the BC Surgical Patient Registry. Your surgeon will be provided with reports that give accurate and up-to-date information on who is on his/her surgical waitlist. 

All patients who require hip or knee surgery will have their prosthesis information sent to the Canadian Institute of Health Information for analysis by the Canadian Joint Replacement Registry.

Who sees my personal information in the BC Surgical Patient Registry?
After your personal information is entered into the registry, it may be shared only with your surgeon and other authorized health care professionals who are responsible for providing services associated with your surgery. These professionals include operating room booking and health authority surgical management staff. 

In addition, designated Ministry of Health staff may be required to access your information for health system program planning, monitoring of surgical services and/or reporting on health authority performance.

Your personal information, such as name, address, phone number and BC health care number, will not be included in registry information that is used for research or evaluation.

How is my personal information protected? 
Personal information is collected from your surgeon, submitted to the hospital where your surgery is to be performed, and then entered into the BC Surgical Patient Registry. This is authorized under sections 26 (c) and (e), 27 (1)(a)(i), and 27 (1)(b) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The Ministry of Health surgery wait times website offers information about wait times for scheduled surgical procedures in BC. The wait for surgery represents a component of the total waiting time for surgery – from the date the health authority receives the booking form to the date that the patient receives surgery.  


For more information on surgical wait times in BC, please visit the Ministry of Health surgical wait times website at https://swt.hlth.gov.bc.ca

 

 If your complaint remains unresolved after discussing the issue with the service area, we encourage you to contact the Patient Care Quality Office for the health authority where care was delivered.

 

Fraser Health Patient Care Quality Office

Interior Health Health Patient Care Quality Office

Island Health Patient Care Quality Office

Northern Health Patient Care Quality Office 

Providence Health Care Patient Care Quality Office

(includes St. Paul's Hospital and Mount Saint Joseph Hospital)

Provincial Health Services Authority Patient Care Quality Office

(includes BC Cancer, BC Children's Hospital, BC Women's Hospital + Health Centre)

Vancouver Coastal Health Patient Care Quality Office

Ministry of Health Concerns and Complaints for Accessing Health Care




Partners
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SOURCE: BC Surgical Patient Registry ( )
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