Surgery wait times reduced; HOSPITAL SAYS ORTHOPEDIC, EYE SPECIALISTS GET MORE TIME
Bluewater Health is squeezing a few more hours into the day to help cut wait times.
Orthopedic surgeons and ophthalmologists are getting more time in the operating room to help slash waits, said Lana Dunlop, business director, surgery/rehab/ambulatory care at Bluewater Health.
Four additional hours per week for orthopedic surgeons and 10 more days a month for ophthalmologists have enabled the hospital to make significant gains over the past three months.
It's very exciting to see both cataract and hip (surgery) waits come down, Dunlop said. We're still working on knees.
In the latest data, cataract wait times stood at 58 days, below the provincial average of 153 days. Hip surgery waits are 169 days while the provincial average is 235 days. The hospital is still struggling to complete knee replacements under government mandated target times. A wait for a knee replacement at Bluewater Health is 370 days, forty days longer than the provincial average.
The hospital has also been quick to allocate any available open time within the operating schedule for wait time procedures. The Surgical Program Committee is monitoring the wait time numbers on a monthly basis to ensure government funding is utilized. In the last fiscal year, Bluewater Health had to return over $250,000 in funding it was unable to use for wait time procedures.
It's a real team effort but I think we have the process perfected, said Dunlop.
And the people who benefit from lower waits will always be patients, she said.
Everyone would want their surgery done in their home hospital in the quickest amount of time, Dunlop said.