STEADY SURGICAL PROGRESS CONTINUES IN SASKATCHEWAN

The latest update to the Saskatchewan Surgical Care Network (SSCN) website shows that Saskatchewan's surgical wait list continues to decline.

In the six months ending September 2006, the total number of people in Saskatchewan waiting for surgery to be performed in the seven largest health regions dropped by about 500 people. In Regina and Saskatoon, where the longest waits occur and most surgical access funding is targeted, almost 950 fewer patients are waiting for surgery.

"The data provides solid evidence that Saskatchewan's surgical care management strategy is working," Health Minister Len Taylor said. "We can clearly see that the number of patients waiting continued to decline. We have more work to do, but we're moving in the right direction."

Saskatchewan's wait list continues to decline even though surgical volumes are down slightly from the same six-month period last year. About 640 fewer procedures were performed. However, over the summer months when fewer surgeries are usually done because of staff vacations, more surgeries were performed than last year. In 2005-06, the two largest regions completed more operating room procedures than at any time over the last five years.

The website shows that 86 per cent of surgeries were completed within six months and 93 per cent within one year. The data is based on a province-wide Surgical Patient Registry, a comprehensive database that tracks all patients waiting for surgery in hospital operating rooms and their levels of urgency.

The longest waits for non-emergency surgery in Saskatchewan continue to be in orthopaedics, plastic surgery and ophthalmology. Resources are being targeted at those areas, to take care of patients who have been waiting longest. Waits are shortest for patients requiring cardiovascular procedures or general surgery.

In addition to base operating funding provided to health regions for surgical services in this financial year, Saskatchewan is investing $8.9 million of targeted federal funding to make surgical system improvements and reduce the number of patients who wait longer.

The figures are available at website, www.sasksurgery.ca.

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For More Information, Contact:

Joan Petrie Health Regina Phone: 306-787-4083 Email: jpetrie@health.gov.sk.ca