toh

Four weeks ago, The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) and Academic Orthopedic Surgical Associates of Ottawa (AOAO) began a partnership with the goal of providing more patients in our community with access to the surgeries they need. We established this agreement out of the utmost care for our patients. We know that, unfortunately, some patients wait a long time for surgery, and we wanted to address that.  

We have not spoken publicly very much about this pilot project to date for a few reasons. First, we wanted to see the data and understand whether this partnership with AOAO would be effective in shortening wait times for our patients. We needed to collect data because we did not want to overpromise our patients before knowing we could deliver. We also wanted to ensure this model does not have an impact on our already under-resourced staffing levels.  

During the past four Saturdays, AOAO physicians and staff have performed 40 procedures at the Riverside Campus. That’s 40 people in need of hip and knee surgeries who are no longer on the waiting list, living and waiting in pain, where the average wait time is 250 days for hip surgery and 209 for knee surgery. This partnership has led to a 20 per cent increase in surgical productivity for the hospital.  

The patients who received surgeries with AOAO were chosen by their physicians through the regional central intake, like all patients in need of surgery. The choices were made based on each patient’s unique health situation. These were all patients needing day surgery – freeing up spots for other surgical cases at TOH and other hospitals. It’s a modest but important win for patients across the board.  

In surveying the patients who have received these surgeries, there was a high degree of excitement that they were receiving the surgeries they had waited for, and overall satisfaction with their experience. These are TOH patients, with whom our physicians and care teams are familiar, and who had been waiting for their surgeries for some time. Many of the surgeons performing these surgeries also provide care at TOH.  

Overall, the partnership has also meant that TOH’s operating rooms have been more available for patients with other kinds of surgical needs. As the largest hospital in Eastern Ontario, we manage all types of care. This partnership has, in a small way, enabled us to preserve the operating rooms for the most complex kinds of care.  

Like our partnerships with Focus Eye Centre and regional hospitals, working with AOAO has allowed TOH to increase access to surgical care while ensuring we maintain integrated care for patients and families throughout the region. These partnerships simply provide additional access for our patients to the surgery they require.  

Care teams at The Ottawa Hospital have worked closely with AOAO to ensure there is no impact on staffing at the hospital. AOAO recruits their staff from across the region’s health-care institutions, and therefore has access to a larger pool of health-care professionals.  

In fact, less than half of AOAO’s staff are TOH employees, and they work in a variety of roles at the hospital (Registered Nurses (RNs), Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), attendants, and clerks) with a mix of full-time, part-time and casual staff. Not all of them have worked every Saturday during the pilot project. We will continue monitoring staffing levels at the hospital and adjust accordingly, as needed.  

It should go without saying that in line with our public health-care system, no patient at TOH, AOAO or Focus Eye Centre pays for any surgery. As with all TOH finances, any efficiencies created in these cases are reinvested into patient care, which is and always will be our priority. For example, the cost of a knee or hip surgery at TOH is approximately $8,000, while the cost of doing that same surgery through AOAO is $6,400. Those cost savings are reinvested into the hospital and patient care.  

The rental agreement, and overall partnership, with AOAO is no different than the many partnerships we have across our 19 satellite sites in the community, our food services as well as various other staff and patient services within the hospital. AOAO also purchased all their own equipment and follows all TOH infection control protocols.  

We have worked closely with the Ministry of Health on this ground-breaking model and will continue to do so. As the AOAO model develops, we will continue to ensure that we meet all legislative requirements.   

TOH is committed to enriching the quality of care for our patients in Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec and Nunavut. We will continue to provide our patients with the compassion we would all want for our loved ones and to pursue innovative partnerships that enable us to do so. This partnership is just the beginning, as we look to create more models of care that ensure all patients receive the care they need.