At LHSC, we’re rethinking how and where surgery is delivered to help patients get the care they need, sooner. Over the past year and with the support of Ontario’s Ministry of Health, we’ve made important strides to improve surgical care for patients across our region.
Make Kids Count initiative helps Children’s Hospital at LHSC reduce surgical waitlist by 26 per cent
In August 2024, Children’s Hospital at LHSC announced it significantly reduced its paediatric surgery waitlist, thanks to targeted provincial funding through the Make Kids Count initiative. In the course of one year, the hospital achieved a 26 per cent reduction in the waitlist for non-urgent and non-emergent paediatric surgeries.
The funding enabled investments that increased capacity in the operating room (OR) and enhanced efficiency in the Minor Procedure Room (MPR), which allows paediatric patients the opportunity to have less-invasive produces done in a sterile setting outside of a traditional operating room and helps save OR space for more complex cases.
Children’s Hospital performs more than 3,000 elective surgeries each year, and the investment made it possible to complete 500 additional surgeries.
“This additional funding has enabled us to provide children and families in southwestern Ontario with more rapid access to their surgeries. We look forward to continuing this momentum and ensuring that no child waits longer than required for their procedure,” says Dr. Andreana Butter, Division Head, Paediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital.
Announcing the expansion of the Nazem Kadri Surgical Centre
Since its official opening in January 2020, the Nazem Kadri Surgical Centre at LHSC has emerged as a world-class model for how outpatient surgeries can be delivered faster, more efficiently, and with high patient satisfaction. Located outside of LHSC’s main hospital sites, the Centre focuses on low-risk, low-complexity procedures such as hernia repairs and orthopaedic surgeries where patients are discharged the same day. The team currently performs 2,000 procedures each year using two operating rooms.
In January 2025, the Government of Ontario announced funding to expand the Nazem Kadri Surgical Centre at LHSC. This expansion includes four new operating rooms, additional recovery and prep areas, and an on-site medical device reprocessing unit which will increase the Centre’s capacity to up to 6,000 surgeries per year.
“The Surgical Centre has fundamentally improved the experience for patients receiving surgery at LHSC,” says David Musyj, Supervisor at LHSC. “This investment will help more people get the care they need, faster.”
By implementing a high-efficiency model of care, the Centre has streamlined common procedures like hernia repairs and orthopaedic surgeries, making them 25 per cent faster and 56 per cent more cost-effective compared to traditional hospital settings.
“What is remarkable is that these surgeries are not just faster and less expensive to perform, but patients are consistently happy with their experience,” says Dr. Abdel-Rahman Lawendy, Medical Director at the Nazem Kadri Surgical Centre.
Patients have reported a high degree of satisfaction with their experience at the Surgical Centre, with an average rating of 5 out of 5 as of December 2024. Since its opening, the Centre has enabled 1,000 additional surgeries each year, reducing wait times for non-cancer surgeries by 18 per cent.
“This model is scalable,” adds Dr. Lawendy. “We’re inspired by what we’ve achieved and excited by what’s possible, not just here at LHSC, but across the health system.”
These investments from Ontario’s Ministry of Health build on our momentum, helping to create a system at LHSC that is more adaptive, efficient, and better equipped to meet patients’ needs.
