About Wait Times

Providing excellent and timely patient care is a priority for the London Regional Cancer Program (LRCP) at LHSC. Our staff works hard to ensure every patient gets the treatment they need, when they need it.

Ministry of Health and Long Term Care reports on wait times for certain procedures at select Ontario hospitals. This web site is part of the Provincial Government's Wait Time Strategy (WTS), established to reduce wait times in five key health services:

  • Cancer surgery
  • Select Cardiac procedures - angioplasty, angiography and bypass surgery
  • Hip and Knee total joint replacements
  • Cataract surgery
  • MRI and CT exams

Visitors to Ontario Wait Times generate a list of hospitals and their reported wait times for the above procedures. The site gives users a snapshot of wait times over a two-month period.

Wait times are measured in days, and reflect the length of time from the decision to have surgery to the completion of the procedure, for those patients who had surgery within the identified time period. The content on the WTS website is updated regularly.

Tracking wait times in Ontario is an important step toward improving access to health services. It helps identify ways to increase efficiencies, standardize best practices and target funding to help reduce wait times.

Cancer Care Ontario also tracks wait times for radiation and systemic therapy. These wait times reflect the time from referral by a family physician or a surgeon to a cancer treatment centre like LRCP, to the date a patient begins treatment. The information is provided by the cancer treatment centre location and by type of cancer.

Tracking wait times in Ontario is an important step towards improving access to health services. It will help identify ways to increase efficiencies, standardize best practices and target funding to help reduce wait times. At LRCP/LHSC, we remain dedicated to improving access to care and continuing our work to reduce wait times.