New charter facility for orthopedic surgery hangs a shingle in city
Group says Ellerslie centre's capacity will be about 5,000 operations annually
A new charter facility for orthopedic surgeries will open its doors this week in Edmonton.
The Alberta Surgical Group (ASG) held a launch event for the privately owned centre on Saturday, with the doctors behind the company saying it will help bolster capacity for procedures like hip and knee replacements.
The Ellerslie facility has five operating rooms, and according to ASG, around 5,000 surgeries are expected to be scheduled there each year. Patients will get care under the public system, with ASG operating under a contract with Alberta Health Services.
ASG COO and orthopedic surgeon Dr. D'arcy Durand said the hope is that the centre can be a “much-needed pressure relief valve” for hospitals, where surgeries like joint replacements have often had to be postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic to make sure there was capacity to care for people who got seriously ill during numerous waves of the virus.
“It's been difficult. The AHS system is strained, by no fault of its own,” Durand said.
He said he and other surgeons will now have an extra option for scheduling patient procedures to work through their wait lists.
“As an orthopedic surgeon, I'm not at capacity for what I could function and operate. I'm able, and I think a lot of my colleagues are able, to add a few days per month.”
In addition to hip and knee replacements, the ASG facility is equipped for some spine surgeries and procedures such as arthroscopy and ligament reconstruction.
The move to do more surgeries in private facilities is part of the UCP government's Alberta Surgical Initiative, announced in 2019. It calls for partnerships with non-hospital health-care clinics across the province to provide more publicly funded surgeries.
The plan has drawn criticism from at least one Medicare advocacy group that said contracting out surgeries will add to the complexity and inequity of the health system, raising concerns about a slippery slope toward paying for care.
The Opposition NDP also has questioned why new surgery facilities aren't being built within the public system.
Alberta currently has more than 40 chartered surgical facilities under contract with AHS. All surgeries are done at no cost to patients and facilities must be accredited by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.
Health Minister Jason Copping was at the ASG event Saturday, and he praised the work envisioned at the centre.
“We need to increase capacity, and we need to use all the tools that are available to us — and this means contracting,” he said.
“Contracting works. That's why we do it, and we're going to do more of it, including right here.”
Copping said across Alberta, there are a little more than 69,000 patients awaiting surgery. It's the first time this year that number has dropped below 70,000, and it's down from a peak of more than 80,000 in fall 2021.
Earlier this year, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reported that in Alberta in 2021, just 59 per cent of hip replacements and 49 per cent of knee replacements were done within six months of a surgeon deeming it required. Health-care systems across the country have struggled to return to pre-pandemic capacity for procedures like joint replacements.
“The challenge of actually doing surgeries within the recommended wait times has been a challenge not just since COVID, but even prior to COVID,” Copping said.
“It's a private clinic, which is paid for through our public system . ... What it will enable us to do is free up spaces in our hospitals.”
It's been difficult. The AHS system is strained, by no fault of its own.