Hip and knee wait times a challenge in Sask.: report
Just three of Saskatchewan’s health regions met benchmark wait times for hip and knee replacement more than 90 per cent of the time in 2016, according to data released Tuesday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
In the Five Hills and Prairie North health regions, 100 per cent of hip and knee replacement patients had surgery within 182 days. In the Prince Albert Parkland region, 97 per cent of hip replacement patients and 98 per cent of knee replacement patients had their surgeries within 182 days.
In the Saskatoon Health Region, however, only 87 per cent for hip replacement patients and 81 per cent of knee replacement patients waited 182 days or less. In the Regina Qu’Appelle region the numbers were even worse, at 61 per cent for hip replacement and 56 per cent for knee replacement.
No data from those five regions is available for four other procedures with benchmark wait targets: hip fracture repair, cataract surgery, bypass surgery and radiation therapy. However, provincially, 97 per cent of patients received radiation therapy within 28 days.
No data for any procedure is available from any of Saskatchewan’s other health regions.
Nationally, three out of four Canadians who needed a hip or knee replacement, cataract surgery, hip fracture repair or cancer radiation therapy received it within the recommended wait times for those priority procedures, although there was often wide variation from one province to another.
Wait times for hip fracture
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repair across the country continued to improve. The percentage of patients receiving surgery within the 48-hour benchmark increased to 86 per cent in 2016 from 81 per cent in 2012.
Wait times for joint replacement
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remained relatively unchanged last year; 75 per cent of patients received hip or knee replacement surgery within the 182-day benchmark. Since 2012, the number of hip replacements rose 22 per cent, while knee replacements went up 18 per cent.
About 97 per cent of cancer
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patients received radiation therapy within the 28-day benchmark in 2016. While there was some variation in wait times across provinces, overall 90 per cent of patients were able to access the treatment within 15 to 27 days.
There was a significant drop in ■ the proportion of Canadians who were able to get cataract surgery within the targeted wait time of 112 days: in 2016, 73 per cent of patients had the sight-restoring operation within that period, down from 83 per cent 2012.
“What we can see with cataracts was that the volumes of cataract surgeries done has not increased as much as it has for hips and knees,” said Tracy Johnson, CIHI’s director of health systems analysis and emerging issues.
Still, there were some marked differences among provinces for the four other priority procedures.
In British Columbia, 61 per cent of hip replacement and 47 per cent of knee replacement patients were able to get their surgery within the target time frame of 182 days. Across the country in Nova Scotia, the figures were 56 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively.