The patient registry is an important tool in maintaining and improving the high quality of care in the province. Bypass surgery is one of the most common major surgical procedures performed in Canada. Depending on the extent of the blockage, one, two, three or four areas may be bypassed. This is called single, double, triple or quadruple bypass surgery. The other group of heart specialists, cardiologists, are not surgeons.
Cardiologists diagnose and treat heart disease by non-surgical means.
For example, the time it takes for a patient to have a heart catheterization procedure before being referred to a heart surgeon is not part of the waiting time shown for heart surgery. And if a patient's medical condition changes while waiting for surgery, the waiting time will be recalculated upon notification of the Regional Cardiac Care Coordinator. The scheduling of surgery is done by the surgeon, who will make arrangements with the patient. Information on how to contact the Regional Cardiac Care Coordinator in each hospital can be found by clicking on the name of the hospital in Column 1 of the table.