EDMONTON — Albertans can now check how long it will take to see an emergency room doctor, as well as overall quality of care at 16 emergency rooms across the province.
The Health Quality Council of Alberta says its website is designed to make access to emergency room information easy for health-care providers, decision-makers and the public.
Much of the information is already publicly accessible, but council CEO Andrew Neuner says it’s important to bring all the data into one easy-to-use website.
The website uses simple graphs and colourful icons to help users track down information in 18 categories, including how long to see an emergency room doctor, number of people who leave an emergency room without seeing a doctor, and overall quality of care.
The website can be found at http://focus.hqca.ca.
Neuner says it's hoped people will recognize areas that are performing well, have conversations about how to improve, and that measures will improve over time through that process.
"I think the bigger message that we’re trying to deliver here is that by working with patients and providers, we’ve pulled together the most important measures so that there’s a single source of truth,” said Neuner.
