Sign up for the paNOW newsletter

Surgical wait times continue to drop in PAPHR

Oct 28, 2013 | 5:04 PM

The Prince Albert Parkland Health Region (PAPHR) is continuing to reduce their surgical wait times with just over six months left in the four-year Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative.

Ninety per cent of all surgeries in the PAPHR are performed within three months of referral and 98 per cent are performed within six months, according to the latest statistics dating back to Aug. 31.

“Saskatchewan is changing the definition of a long wait for surgery,” said health minister Dustin Duncan in a news release. “After March 2014, any wait longer than three months will be too long.”

On average, 80 per cent of patients in Saskatchewan received their surgery within three months of their referral from a surgeon and 91 per cent received it within six months.

This means the number of people waiting more than three months for surgery has dropped 59 per cent from 15,345 in March 2010 to 6,264 by the end of Aug. 2013.

“That is 9,081 fewer patients waiting longer than three months for surgeries,” Duncan said in the release. “This initiative is making meaningful improvements for surgical patients.”

The Saskatchewan health system is on track to provide 89,000 surgeries in the 2013-14 fiscal year. Patients have received over 2,000 more surgeries in the first five months of the fiscal year than during the same time last year.

Although the PAPHR has decreased the number of patients waiting more than three months for surgery, not every health region is faring so well.

The number of patients of waiting for more than three months in Saskatoon Health Region increased.

In the release put out by the province, “the (Saskatoon) health region has seen demand for surgery grow by about 700 cases more than estimated this year, and is working with its surgeons and the Ministry of Health to find ways to meet the demand.”

The Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative was implemented by the ministry of health in 2010 with the goal to have no one waiting for surgery any longer than three months by 2014. The “ultimate” goal is to demonstrate to patients that health care in Saskatchewan is accessible, safe and sustainable.

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow