Province announces $175M to reduce surgical wait times

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The province has earmarked $175 million over the next two years to reduce surgical wait times, starting with hip and knee replacements.

The four-part surgical strategy includes addressing backlogs and catching up to wait times, getting more surgeries done, increasing access and efficiency and supporting existing staff. Funding for the program is within the provincial NDP’s current budget and will include $75 million this fiscal year and $100 million the following year.

“People living in pain look to the public health care system and say ‘can we do more?’ and the response we’re providing today is ‘yes, we can,'” Premier John Horgan said at the announcement at Vancouver General Hospital. “That will lead to a 34 per cent increase in procedures. Four thousand people will now have access to this place and others across British Columbia,”

Between 2016 and 2017, 30 per cent of people waiting for hip surgery and 38 per cent waiting for knee surgery waited more than 26 weeks. Health Minister Adrian Dix says the province wants to reduce that number to 10 per cent of patients by the end of the fiscal year.

“These are dramatic improvements in hip and knee (wait times),” he said. “We’ve worked the last five months to bring it together.”

In addition to more funding, Dix says hospitals are also being asked to find efficiencies within the current system. Examples he provided include making sure surgeries start on time and ensuring when one surgery is complete, the next patient is ready immediately to reduce lag time between procedures.

When asked, Horgan did not provide a timeline for family urgent care centres, another promise made by his party during the election.

“The best course of action is to take digestible chunks that can have a meaningful impact on people’s lives and also free up space for other surgeries as required. The knee and hip sector is one area where we can have a profound impact, quickly,” he said.

The province estimates the new program will increase the number of hip and knee surgeries from 14,390 in 2016-2017 to 19,250 this fiscal year.

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