$10 million ‘injection’ to combat rise in surgical wait times

REGINA Saskatchewan’s health minister is hoping a $10-million investment will fund 1,700 more surgeries by March, helping to reverse an upward trend in surgical wait times that has left some patients languishing for well over six months in the province’s two major cities.

But he acknowledged that the money won’t be enough to address a problem his government seemed to have a handle on just four years ago.

“This is sort of step one,” Health Minister Jim Reiter said during a scrum with reporters on Wednesday.

“This is an injection in-year (before the next budget) to sort of start to get ahead of the problem.”

He said it will be a “multi-year project,” much like the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative that saw $176 million funnelled into reducing wait times between 2010 and 2014.

“Depending on the outcome of budget deliberations, I’m hopeful that what will happen is you’ll see another announcement at budget time,” said Reiter.

The Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative, which was followed by another $60.5 million investment in 2014-15, succeeded in driving down wait times to the point where 98 per cent of patients were getting surgery within six months.

That was a massive improvement from the 60 per cent of patients who met the six-month threshold in 2007.

But Reiter said wait times have crept up since, largely due to population growth and an aging population.

Current data shows 23,558 patients are waiting for surgery across Saskatchewan, the overwhelming majority in Regina and Saskatoon.

Slightly more than 10 per cent wait more than six months. A small proportion in Regina and Saskatoon — about three per cent — wait more than a year.

“While it’s still much better, we see the trends going in the wrong direction,” said Reiter. “We need to rectify it.”

Patients awaiting orthopedic surgery, eye surgery, dental surgery and ear, nose and throat surgery are especially likely to face long delays, according to median wait time data.

The government is planning to target the $10 million at precisely those areas, as well as toward gynecological surgeries and a cardiac procedure called transcatheter aortic valve implantation that avoids the need for open-heart surgery.

To do it, the Saskatchewan Health Authority is planning to increase surgical hours at hospitals and also increase how many surgeries it contracts from private clinics.

‘SMALL AMOUNT’

Representatives of the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) were at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building on Wednesday to react to the news. SMA vice president Barb Konstantynowicz called the money a “small amount.”

But she still welcomed the announcement and agreed with Reiter that it will take a multi-step process to address such a complex issue.

NDP leader Ryan Meili made a similar case in more combative terms, calling the investment a “Band-aid solution.”

“This is a pretty small initiative,” he said. “It’s kind of a one-off, drop-in-the-bucket sort of thing. Nothing ’s wrong with doing some of that, but what we really need is sustained investment in the system in order to actually create some long-lasting improvements.”

He suggested the government is merely trying to deflect criticism to shield itself from charges of inaction.

“Let’s throw a little bit of money at this, make it look like we’re doing something about health care and maybe people will stop complaining so much,” he said, in characterizing what he sees as the government’s approach.

“But the reality is that people have serious concerns, our health care system is facing serious stresses and this is an unserious response to that level of concern.”

The $10 million will be accounted for in the current 2019-20 fiscal year. That means it could cut into the projected $26-million surplus the government reported in its first quarter update.

But Reiter said the whole Saskatchewan Party caucus was on board with spending the money now.

He said patients shouldn’t expect immediate results, since it will take time to schedule additional surgeries. Some could come in December, but most are expected early next year.