REGINA - The province of Saskatchewan is touting progress in ramping up the volume of surgeries to patients this year.
According to numbers released by the government Monday, during the first five months of 2022, the health system delivered 5,000 more surgeries than in the preceding five months in 2021, when services were slowed down.
There was also a 2,500 increase in the first five months in the number of surgeries performed on patients who had already waited over six months.
“This progress is a result of the hard work and dedication shown by our provincial surgical teams to serve patients and increase surgical volumes,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a news release. “Their efforts have made a positive impact on quality of life for many Saskatchewan people and their families.”
The province has a target to perform 7,000 more surgeries in 2022-23 than the highest-ever level, to reduce the surgical backlog. According to the province they are taking a number of steps to meet that target including:
Increase capacity in Regina and Saskatoon and also regional and some smaller surgical centres that provide or support joint replacements. It was noted 240 more joint replacements during the first five months of 2022 compared with the same period pre-pandemic in 2019.
Exploring expansion with private sector partners, with a Request for Proposals to be issued to build a stand-alone orthopedic surgery facility focused on increasing operating room and bed capacity for in-patient joint replacements, as well as a variety of day surgery procedures.
Exploring a temporary, out of province surgical initiative for hip and knee replacements, contracted by the Saskatchewan Health Authority to perform publicly funded orthopedic surgeries.
“The increase in surgeries shows important progress, but we know there is more work that needs to be done,” Merriman said in a statement. “At this time, we are continuing to maximize surgical capacity in the province and need to consider other bold steps to reach our goals. We are considering all options while we move forward on a number of initiatives, such as facility upgrades and expansions across the province and comprehensive human resource plans to increase surgical capacity through additional hiring.”
It was the government's plan for out of province surgeries that drew a reaction from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, who in a news release accused the Sask Party government of moving forward with "surgical privatization, including contracting out surgeries to for- profit providers, and shipping patients out of province for surgery in private clinics."
“Sixty years ago, the people of Saskatchewan came together to create universal Medicare. It is disappointing that our current government seems to be doing everything in its power to move the clock backwards and privatize our health care system,” said Bashir Jalloh, president of CUPE 5430, in a statement.
"Contracting out surgeries is not a magic wand for wait times. In fact, there is little evidence to show that contracting out will result in shorter wait times. We point to Saskatchewan’s own MRI wait lists which have increased since the government implemented a two-tier system. Even in the case of private surgeries, these patients end up coming back to the public system for follow up. Home care and therapies are just a couple of programs that are also experiencing backlogs.".
