The Ontario government has unveiled new techniques to reduce wait times for key medical surgeries, including a more patient-friendly website that lists the estimated wait times.

Health Minister George Smitherman said the site gives patients and doctors the information they need to help make decisions about the health care they receive and give.

"We've made some important changes to the ground-breaking Ontario wait times website," Smitherman said on Thursday.

"The website is the window for the public to see how well we're doing in improving access."

OntarioWaitTimes.com charts wait times for treatment in the five key services that are part of the government's Wait Time Strategy: cataract surgery, cancer surgery, total joint hip and knee replacements, selected cardiac procedures and MRI/CT exams.

Information will be routinely updated every two months, Smitherman said.

The site has received about 3 million visits since it was first launched in 2005. Improvements include more user-friendly functionality with the addition of consumer and health care provider sections, and simpler language to better explain the data to the public.

Smitherman said recent government initiatives have helped reduce wait times. So far, wait times for hip surgeries have been reduced by 26 per cent and knee surgeries by almost 32 per cent.

The government also announced the creation of an independent Wait Time Data Certification Council, which will review the processes on how the wait time information is collected and reported prior to its display on the website.

"This new expert committee and the redesigned website are important steps in reporting on wait times and identifying opportunities for improving access to health care services across the province," said Dr. Alan Hudson, Lead of Ontario's Wait Time Strategy.

During Thursday's announcement, Smitherman also touched on the issue of private clinics being made available to perform surgeries.

This includes a current proposal that could see Don Mills Surgical Unit Ltd. perform 1,500 knee replacement operations.

But Smitherman was non-committal about whether or not the government wants to expand such programs.

His focus, he says, is on the public system and increasing capacity in the public hospitals.

If the plan was approved, Ontario would join British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba in contracting health-care services to private surgical centres in an effort to reduce surgical wait times.

With a report from CTV's John Musselman and files from The Canadian Press