Released on April 18, 2013
Patients in Saskatchewan are getting surgery sooner with increased safety thanks to a concerted effort to improve outcomes for patients.
With just over a year to go for the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative, monthly updated statistics show the health system has achieved 90 per cent of its April 2013 target of offering patients surgery within six months, and is at 78 per cent of its ultimate target of offering surgery within three months.
“We’re not yet where we want to be, but we’ve made incredible progress toward our goal,” Health Minister Dustin Duncan said. “Over this next year we remain committed to putting the patient first and moving toward our goal that by April 2014 all patients will receive an offer of surgery within three months.”
The latest wait times website update, with results to February 28, 2013, shows that five health regions have no patients waiting more than six months for surgery. Of the other five health regions with surgical services, Regina Qu’Appelle and Saskatoon Health Regions handle the bulk of the province’s surgeries and account for most of the long-waiting patients. Saskatoon has whittled its list down to 880 patients who are waiting longer than six months, while Regina Qu’Appelle still has 2,910 patients who have waited that long.
Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region has acknowledged it likely will meet the three-month target later than scheduled, despite a concerted effort to overcome a shortage of operating room nurses and to expand capacity using third-party surgery providers.
Since 2007, the number of patients waiting more than six months has fallen 64 per cent (from 10,635 to 3,858). Since the Surgical Initiative was launched in April 2010, that number has fallen 61 per cent (3,858 patients on February 28, compared with 9,876 on April 1, 2010), or 6,018 fewer patients waiting more than six months for surgery.
There were a total of 19,315 patients waiting for surgery on February 28, 2013. This is a decrease of 30 per cent (or 8,266 fewer cases waiting) since the launch of the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative in April 2010.
See more information about wait times on the Surgical Initiative website, which has been redesigned to make navigating the surgical experience easier for patients at www.sasksurgery.ca.
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For more information, contact:
Tyler McMurchy
Health
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4083