SASKATCHEWAN MAKING PROGRESS ON SURGICAL WAIT LISTS

New data shows that Saskatchewan's surgical wait list continues to decline, and that hospitals in major centres are doing more surgeries.

The Saskatchewan Surgical Care Network (SSCN) website has been updated to include all data up to June 30th, 2005. It shows that the surgical wait list in the province's seven largest regions dropped by more than 3,200 people between January 2004 and June 2005. As of June 30th, about 29,400 people were on the wait list in these seven regions.

The data also indicates that both Regina Qu'Appelle and Saskatoon Health Regions did more surgical procedures in the first quarter of 2005-06 than they did during the same period in 2004-05. Together they completed nearly 13,800 surgeries from April to June of 2005, up by more than 650 from the same period last year.

"We have been making significant investments to provide health regions with the resources they need to increase surgical capacity and better manage access to surgery. Clearly, it is beginning to pay off," Health Minister John Nilson said. "Timely and appropriate surgical care will continue to be a priority of our government, a vision we are achieving with the support of health regions, physicians and other health professionals. Saskatchewan is meeting its federal commitments to address surgical wait times."

The website, www.sasksurgery.ca, provides a range of surgical care information including wait time and wait list data as well as physician location and specialty. It shows that half of all patients wait less than five weeks for their procedures, and 80 per cent receive their surgeries within six months. For the first time, this "median wait time" information is displayed by specialty on the website.

The Web site's data is based on a province-wide Surgical Patient Registry. The Registry is a comprehensive surgical database that contains information on every patient waiting for surgery in the province and their level of urgency. Registry data provides evidence of steady progress in reducing the surgical wait list:

·In 2004-05, the number of people waiting more than 18 months for surgery in Regina and Saskatoon dropped by more than 1,900, or about one-third.

·The largest decrease was in orthopedics, where 44 per cent fewer people than last year (more than 1,100) are waiting for surgery.

"The latest data is evidence of considerable progress being made in Saskatchewan," Saskatchewan Surgical Care Network co-chair Dr. Rob Weiler said. "This province has a tremendous advantage over other jurisdictions that are working to address surgical access, because it can accurately track and measure surgical wait lists and patients' needs."

Significant federal and provincial funding will continue to be invested in reducing surgical wait times. In 2005-06, Saskatchewan has allocated $8.9 million to this priority, $6.5 million of which will be used to provide surgery to patients who have waited more than 18 months for their procedures. As the number of people in that category is significantly reduced, government and health regions will focus on the goal of targeting patients waiting longer than 12 months for day surgery.

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For More Information, Contact:

Jocelyn Argue Health Regina Phone: (306) 787-4083