SURGICAL WAIT TIMES CONTINUE TO DROP

Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region Lagging 

Saskatchewan people are receiving surgeries sooner – with improved safety procedures – thanks to the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative.  The Saskatchewan health system is making good progress toward its April 2014 goal of providing all patients an offer of surgery within three months.  However, it is clear that Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region will not reach the target on schedule.

Statistics as of December 31, 2012 show that a reduction in the number of patients across Saskatchewan waiting more than six months for surgery was offset by an increased number of patients waiting in Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region (RQHR).  The overall provincial number increased by 233 people from last month’s update to 4,504.  Since 2007, the number of patients waiting more than six months for surgery has fallen 58 per cent.  The Surgical Initiative’s interim goal is that by April 2013, no one wait will more than six months for surgery.

“When we began the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative in 2010, we knew this was an ambitious undertaking,” Health Minister Dustin Duncan said.  “We set bold targets, where others set none.  We are proud of what we have accomplished, to provide Saskatchewan people with improved access to quality surgical services.  With one exception, our health regions look to be on track to meet the wait times target on schedule.  My expectation is that Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region will meet the target, even if they are delayed a year. Patients in this region, and across Saskatchewan, deserve treatment that meets this new standard of care.”

“We are committed to aggressively reducing our surgical wait times,” RQHR CEO Keith Dewar said.  “We are confident we will be able to provide all surgeries within three months, but we will need more time to accomplish that.”

Despite the setbacks in RQHR, 90 per cent of Saskatchewan people needing non-emergency surgery receive their procedure within six months and 78 per cent receive their procedure within three months.  Since November 2007, the number of patients waiting more than three months has been significantly reduced – dropping 46 per cent from 15,537 to 8,345.

The Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative was launched in April 2010 involving government, surgical teams, health administrators and patient representatives in a high-priority joint effort to streamline surgical processes, improve the quality of patient care and reduce wait times.

Some Saskatchewan projects contributing to surgery improvements include:

• Adoption of the surgical safety checklist before surgeries and processes to reduce post-surgical infections;
• An online specialist directory to empower patients, in consultation with their primary health care provider, to make informed choices about referrals to specialists;
• The use of pooled referrals to route patients to the next available specialist appropriate for their condition;
• Referral of patients on the public wait list to contracted third-party surgical centres;  
• New patient-flow software introduced in Regina and Saskatoon to help move patients through the health system better and faster;
• Increased surgical capacity in Regina, Saskatoon and other centres; and
• Assessment centres to support early diagnosis and treatment of serious hip and knee problems and back problems.

“Bringing down wait times is a top priority,” Duncan said.  “Our expectation is that through the lens of Patient First, surgical teams will work together to achieve more timely treatment for patients.”

More information about the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative can be found at www.health.gov.sk.ca/surgical-initiative.  Wait time data and other information for patients is available at www.sasksurgery.ca.

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For more information, contact:

Tyler McMurchy
Health
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4083