Wait time benchmarks, research evidence and the knowledge translation process

The first set of evidence-based benchmarks for medically acceptable wait times, announced in December 2005, were developed, in part, through a novel partnership between the Provincial and Territorial Ministries of Health, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Canada's health services research community. Responding to a direct request for assistance and demanding timelines from the Provincial and Territorial Ministries of Health, CIHR mounted a rapid-response funding process and supported eight Canadian teams to synthesize evidence to inform the development of the first set of benchmarks. This experience demonstrated that both the research funding process and research syntheses themselves can rapidly inform policy making in even the most heated of environments.