An injured worker complained to us that the WSIB was not replying to his physiotherapy clinic’s request for an extension of treatment.

In line with the WSIB’s regular process, the clinic had contacted the WSIB’s clinical expert line several times but their voicemails had gone unanswered.

In reviewing the claim, we saw that the clinic had also spoken with the case manager, who told them to continue leaving voicemails on the clinical expert line if they did not receive a response within 3–5 days.

As the escalation process was unclear, we spoke with the manager responsible for the clinical expert line. He told us they were experiencing a backlog, and confirmed there was a voicemail from the physiotherapy clinic from two weeks prior. He had a clinical expert contact the clinic that day to approve the extension request. He also explained that WSIB staff could escalate any concerns about the clinical expert line to him.

We contacted the relevant manager in the case management team and she explained that her team had since become aware of the escalation process and were using it when necessary.

In a follow-up inquiry in October 2023, the manager responsible for the clinical expert line confirmed they had cleared their backlog.