Measuring Wait Times for Eye Surgeries

Priority levels and target times for eye surgeries in Ontario are set by surgeons, specialists and health care administrators across the province, based on clinical evidence, to guide treatment decisions and to improve patient access and outcomes.

Wait times for eye surgeries including cataract, corneal transplant, glaucoma, and vitrectomy (retina) surgeries, in Ontario are measured and reported. Those wait times are for two periods. (Data excludes patients who did not have the surgery after their first appointment with a surgeon.)

Time to patient's first eye specialist appointment: How long patients waited from an eye specialist or surgeon or central intake office receiving the referral from the patient's doctor, to the patient's first eye specialist appointment.

Priority level of patient's condition	Clinical description	Target time* to patient's first specialist appointment
Priority 1	High probability of disease occurrence or progression impacting morbidity or mortality. Intractable agonizing symptoms	Patient sees surgeon within 7 days of referral received
Priority 2	Moderate probability of disease progression. Low probability of disease occurrence or progression impacting morbidity or mortality.	Patient sees surgeon within 30 days of referral received
Priority 3	All patients who do not meet the criteria of Priority 2 or Priority 4	Patient sees surgeon within 90 days of referral received
Priority 4	Minimal risk of disease progression impacting morbidity/mortality	Patient sees surgeon within 182 days of referral received

Time from decision to having eye surgery: How long patients waited from deciding with the surgeon or specialist to proceed with the surgery, to having the eye surgery. These wait times vary depending on the type of eye surgery. (See table below.)

Priority level of the patient's condition	Target time** from decision to having cataract, cornea - other, ocular trauma, ophthalmic plastics, orbital surgery, retina - other, strabismus and glaucoma (eye pressure lowering surgery) - other surgeries	Target time** from decision to having corneal transplant surgery	Target time** from decision to having glaucoma -eye pressure lowering surgery	Target time** from decision to having vitrectomy surgery	Target time** from decision to having combination cataract and other procedures surgery
Priority 1	Patient has surgery within 24 hours of decision; not included in the data	Patient has surgery within 24 hours of decision	Patient has surgery within 24 hours of decision	Patient has surgery within 24 hours of decision	Patient has surgery within 24 hours of decision
Priority 2	Patient has surgery within 42 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 28 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 14 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 7 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 7 – 42 days of decision
Priority 3	Patient has surgery within 84 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 84 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 42 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 42 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 42 - 84 days weeks of decision
Priority 4	Patient has surgery within 182 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 182 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 112 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 84 days of decision	Patient has surgery within 84 - 182 days of decision

*The target time within which 9 out of 10 patients are seen.

**The target time within which 9 out of 10 patients are treated.

See what this means for patients

Measurement Numbers for Eye Surgery Wait Times

Data for the wait times for eye surgeries in Ontario is reported using these measurement numbers:

The average number of days patients waited; a lower number is better.
The percentage of patients seen, or treated, within target time; a higher percentage is better.