Manitoba’s provincial diagnostic and surgical recovery task force: Structure, processes and outcomes

This paper describes how the Government of Manitoba employed a task force to support the recovery of diagnostic and surgical services from the impact of COVID-19 from December 2021 to December 2023. The paper describes how the system evolved during this period to optimise the efficiency and effectiveness of recovery efforts. The paper supports a more comprehensive implementation of the incident command system (ICS) to manage recovery effectively, with specific reference to the recovery of diagnostic and surgical services. The implementation of ICS and robust structure and processes led to the elimination of 83 per cent of the pandemic backlog and achievement of wait time targets for 26 per cent of services lines in 'expanded scope', with 83 per cent of service lines trending positively towards the target. ICS structured task forces may be an important tool in addressing specific challenges within a healthcare system.