VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Several BC health authorities were hit by penalties for failing to meet waiting-time targets.
Fraser Health was among those fined for not meeting goals for hip, knee and cataract surgery.
"We can increase the number of procedures performed, which we did do by about three per cent last year," explains David Plug with Fraser Health. "But it is still a challenge to keep the wait time down."
Plug claims last year they were not hit by fines, so contingency funds exist this year. But it's tough for them to reach goals because of the sheer number of people needing services in that area.
"We're the largest health authority with 1.6 million people and we're the fastest growing so we have more people coming in," says Plug. "We're also, what we call, the fastest aging, because we have so many people on the cusp of becoming seniors. That's when the hip joints, knee joints and cataracts are required."
Vancouver Coastal Health credits innovation for meeting its goals. They've created a surgical centre at UBC hospital dedicated to doing five knee and hip replacements in the time that most do three. It also has swing rooms where there are two ORs side-by-side where as one patient is being operated on, another is being readied.
The Fraser Health Authority oversees 80,000 surgeries every year and of those 2,500 are hip and knee procedures and 1,500 are cataract surgeries.