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Surgical waiting times for ocular and periocular cancer patients in Toronto
Andrea K Leung1, Dan D DeAngelis, Jeffrey J Hurwitz
1School of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON.
Background:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate surgical waiting times experienced by intraocular and periocular cancer patients in Toronto and to assess the period of greatest delay between certain stages of ocular cancer care.
Methods:
A retrospective chart review was performed on cases of adult patients who underwent surgery between January 2002 and December 2004 for malignant or premalignant tumours of the eye and ocular adnexa. Waiting time intervals were calculated between 5 time points: initial presentation to referring physician or optometrist, date of referral to oculoplastics or ocular oncology, initial assessment, consent date, and surgery date. Total surgical waiting time was the period between the initial presentation and surgery date.
Results:
The mean total surgical waiting time was 85.93 (standard error [SE] 212.70) days. The 5% trimmed mean total waiting time was 51.07 days. The longest mean total waiting time averaged 94.16 (SE 18.69) days for patients with orbital or lacrimal tumours. For all patients, the interval of greatest delay was between initial assessment and consent (according to means) or between referral and initial assessment (according to 5% trimmed means). For patients with lid, brow, or conjunctival tumours the interval of greatest delay was between referral and initial assessment, and for those with orbital, lacrimal, or intraocular tumours it was between initial assessment and consent.
Interpretation:
By measuring the period between consent and surgery, the Ontario government is not measuring the interval of greatest delay in ocular cancer care. The wait-time registry may benefit from including data from patients with periocular tumours.