A new way of doing things at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance has made a big difference at the Chatham emergency department.
CEO Lori Marshall says pay for performance and ER doctors and staff changing their hours has boosted the Chatham ER from 54th in the province to 24th out of 73.
Marshall says all wait times, including physician initial assessment times have greatly improved.
"Our ranking of 24 is a composite ranking. So, it includes not only that particular wait time but it also includes wait times such as if you're admitted to the hospital, how long does it takes us to move you from the emergency department up to the floor," says Marshall.
Marshall says she's very proud of her team and it feels good to make such a big jump.
"We have been looking at our progress over the summer and we've been noting that there is some change we could see from our end and so we were not actually surprised to see the result but we're very, very happy to see it," Marshall says.
Marshall hopes the progress continues.
"We need to make some changes in processes in our emergency department and we are looking to bring in some experts to work with our staff and physicians to streamline our processes even further and we would hope that the impact of that is going to positive to our patients and family members," says Marshall.