Surgical wait times reduced

Wait lists for surgery in Moose Jaw have shrunk some in the last year, according to data compiled by the Saskatchewan Surgical Care Network.
There were 447 patients on waiting lists on Feb 5, compared with 463 last year.
The region had 5,842 surgeries in the period ended Feb. 5, compared with 7,580 in the period ended Feb. 5, 2007.
The largest reduction was by 57 per cent in waits of 18 months or longer to 120 from 285 waiting last year.
"You'll see some volume improvements for those waiting longer than 18 months," Dan Florizone, chief executive officer with Five Hills Health Region, told the board Thursday.
The health region meets or exceeds time frame targets in three of five categories, with all improved year-over-year.
Joint replacements (hips and knees) continue to be longest waiting patients, from 18 months to two years, he said.
Orthopedics wait times are always the source of concern in the Five Hills Health Region, he said.
"Literally we have a need, sufficient volume for two orthopedic surgeons here and we have one," Florizone said.
"We wouldn't have enough operating room time, or budget to afford two orthopedic surgeons."
The health region has managed with one orthopedic surgeon for years by working with Regina and Saskatoon to create an orthopedic service for the entire province, he said.
With the existing surgeon always having a wait list as long as his patient list, Five Hills is examining a proposal for two orthopedic surgeons in the city.
He doesn't expect the file to proceed for several months.
Board chairman Dale Toni asked why joint replacements are done only on Mondays with so many statutory holidays on Mondays.
"If we did them on Wednesday we could do seven more a year," he said.
Florizone said that will be considered, if pre-operation and post operation procedures can be arranged,
Wait list measurement allows managing the list with innovative ideas, he said.
Hip replacements are caught up but knee surgery waits are 18 months to more than 24 months.
"We are going to try performing two knees (weekly) starting in late February and we're hoping to reduce our longest wait lists."
Toni noted wait lists are skewed by patients who defer surgery, and suggested those who defer surgery when called should be dropped from the list.
The region tries to schedule surgeries so they don't interfere with, say, busy farming seasons, said Florizone.
But provincial standards allow dropping a patient from the list after they decline surgery three times, he said.