This new information reveals that the total number of Saskatchewanians who have died while waiting for surgery has now reached 1,898 since SecondStreet.Org began tracking these figures in 2018-19.(ID 17840469 © Mehmetcan | Dreamstime.com)

By Kenneth Cheung

WAITLIST DEATH

385 patients die waiting for surgery in Saskatchewan; Think Tank calls for healthcare reform

Nov 21, 2024 | 4:00 PM

A Freedom of Information request made to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health is revealing that 385 patients died while waiting for surgery during the 2023/24 period.

While this number reflects a slight decrease of 17 patients from the previous year, SecondStreet.Org communication director Dom Lucyk expressed the urgent need to confront the serious issues plaguing the healthcare system.

“The idea of spending the last few years of your life in pain, not being able to walk to your grandkid’s hockey practice or to go bake for the church fundraising bake sale because you have a hip surgery that the government can’t provide you. That’s just wrong,” Lucyk stated.

He explained that long wait times in healthcare are primarily due to the government-run monopoly on service delivery. He believes that by introducing more private options and enhancing patient choice, some pressure from the public operating rooms could be effectively relieved.

“If you’re paying for private surgery, you’re going to get your procedure done more quickly; every time you do that, everyone else behind you on the wait list moves up a spot, right? So it takes pressure off of the system, and they’ve managed to make it work in pretty much everywhere except Canada.”

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Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland have all incorporated for-profit hospitals and insurers into their universal healthcare policy frameworks. Even though private for-profit health care can work in Canada, there are some restrictions regarding doctors and legislation.

Lucyk believes the reality shows that the belief that private, for-profit companies in insurance or hospitals can’t work with accessible health care is wrong. Having these companies is usual in successful universal healthcare systems.

“The idea is that the government has to be the sole deliverer of healthcare and that the best way to solve problems in healthcare is to throw more money at the system. It’s just wrong.”

Citing a case when the province demonstrated the use of private for-profit services to alleviate healthcare pressures, in 2023, Saskatchewan signed a $6 million contract with Canadian Surgical Solutions, a private surgical clinic, to help address the COVID-19-related backlogs by providing hip and knee surgeries in Calgary.

“I’m glad to see things starting to move in the other direction in Saskatchewan, but there’s still a lot of work ahead. There are many, many changes that the province could make that would help patients get care more quickly, and that would lead to numbers like this being a heck of a lot lower,” he noted.

The data requested by SecondStreet.Org from a Freedom of Information request to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health. For the complete document, please click the link provided at the end of the article.

One envisioned change is cross-border health care, simplifying the process for patients travelling for surgery. He believes this will let people take their health care into their own hands, making it more accessible.

He suggests the province consider the Quebec Health Insurance Board’s policy of typically reimbursing only a portion of healthcare costs, which can vary depending on the patient’s hospital stay and destination. Although it is not ‘perfect,’ he is convinced that it would provide more options for patients, especially if their conditions are urgent.

“Let’s say that someone in Esteban has a bad hip. If this policy were copied, they could drive down to North Dakota, get the surgery, pay for it, and then come home. The Saskatchewan government would pay them up to what it would have cost to get it done at home, and then they (the patients) would cover anything extra,” he explained.

As he looks to the future, Lucyk envisions systemic reforms in the healthcare system, not only in Saskatchewan but potentially across Canada. Hoping the government will enhance access, timeliness, and quality of care for all patients to alleviate the alarming reality of waitlist death.

“If the current government were to make some bold changes, they could serve as an example for the rest of the country. We could get people the care that they deserve a lot more quickly, and we could fix the broken system,” Lucyk noted.

A link to the document can be found here.

Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com