Officials with the Horizon Health Network say they are seeing improvements when it comes to surgical waitlists and wait times.
Amy McCavour and Dr. Trish Bryden, co-leads of surgical services, presented an update to Horizon’s board last week.
McCavour said they saw a 19 per cent increase in the number of procedures completed between March and December.
She noted that while waitlists are continuing to increase, they are starting to stabilize for the most part.
“For example, we had a 28 per cent increase in the surgical waitlist, but in the past few months, since March until December, we’ve actually decreased the waitlist by 12 per cent, and we’re still decreasing now,” said McCavour.
One of the areas that saw the biggest improvement was hip and knee surgeries, which the health authority had placed a particular focus on.
McCavour said they completed 77 per cent more procedures between March and December, while the waitlist grew by 36 per cent.
“What this tells us is we’re completing more surgeries than are being added to the waitlist. So even though our waitlist is growing, we’re maintaining it and keeping on top of it,” she said.
Overall, the median wait time for hip and knee surgeries across the province dropped by 35 per cent. Horizon also eliminated the backlog of long-waiting patients as of March.
Horizon said it has also had success with cataract surgeries thanks to new partnerships with private clinics in Fredericton and Miramichi. Completed surgeries rose by 36 per cent in Fredericton and 64 per cent in Miramichi.
Bryden said because of the partnership, they were able to free up surgical space at the Miramichi Regional Hospital, which has seen a 44 per cent increase in elective surgeries.
As for what is driving the overall waitlist currently, McCavour said it is in the areas of ophthalmology, orthopedics, gynecology and ENT (ear, nose and throat).
When it comes to challenges, the surgical services co-leads said staffing is a huge area, particularly when it comes to a nationwide shortage of anesthesiologists and temporary vacancies in the operating room.
“We have maternity leaves and things like that, educational leaves, and we don’t have any relief teams. Nobody can just float to the OR and, you know, we’re a nurse for the day. So when we do have vacancies like that, that sometimes results in room closures,” said McCavour.
Officials are also looking at ways to ensure the health authority’s operating rooms are being used as efficiently as possible to get the highest number of surgeries completed.
