I think that one key way technology can help us is by implementing systems that accurately reflect the number of patients on waiting lists throughout a region, for example, in the greater Toronto area.
We've had several endeavours that have been funded by the province in terms of trying to centralize wait-lists so that children see the first available surgeon who can look after them at a hospital that's very near to where they live rather than coming down to Toronto to receive care there.
The issue we face is that our community partners are also struggling with the impact of the pandemic. That's one big problem, but a second problem, which is just as large, is that children's health care is not always seen as a surgical priority by the hospitals. One of the reasons is that it's not particularly well reimbursed. An anaesthetic for a child is seen as an operation on an otherwise healthy individual, but, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, bringing a child into the operating room is not a simple process. The complexity around providing care for children is higher than for an adult with the same medical problem.
We're working very hard with our regional partners—and I'm talking now about SickKids—in terms of trying to have more children operated on close to where they live, in a community hospital where the majority of the large volume of low-acuity and high-volume cases could be done. I think that's one of the ways of using technology to try to help.
The other thing we're doing is accurate modelling on optimizing the flow of patients through the hospital. We can look at what their underlying problem is, how long their operation is likely to take, where they need to go afterwards and whether they need an intensive care unit bed, and we can adjust the operating room schedules to maximize our throughput.
Finally, the other thing we're doing at SickKids is operating on the weekends. We don't have enough operating space, so we're now operating on weekends to try to address the surgical wait times.