A new report that shows Albertans are waiting longer for hip and knee replacements, as well as cataract surgery, does not tell the whole story, says a Red Deer doctor.
Surgeon Paul Hardy said Alberta Health Services and the government react to problems, such as growing wait times, by throwing money at them to play catch up, instead of better planning.
“What I’d like to see is much more consistency and predictability in funding. (Longer wait times) are a long-term, concerning problem we have not been able to fix,” said Hardy, who is the Red Deer-North Alberta Party candidate and one of the doctors who has been speaking out about the need for more services at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information report shows 70 per cent of hip replacements in Alberta were done within the six-month benchmark, compared to 82 per cent in 2016, and only 66 per cent of knee replacement patients had surgery within six months, down from 77 per cent.
The 16-week benchmark for cataract surgery was reached 49 per cent of the time last year, compared to 58 per cent in 2016.
Hardy said it’s important to know that the wait times reported is the time between the consultation appointment with a surgeon and the surgery. It doesn’t take into account how long patients wait for the consultation itself, which can vary greatly between communities.
He said the data also doesn’t show how many central Albertans get their surgery done in Calgary or Edmonton to avoid lengthy waits at Red Deer hospital due to funding inequality in Alberta.
The Society for Hospital Expansion in Central Alberta, which grew out of the efforts of local doctors, recently released per capita spending figures that show central Alberta gets roughly 1,000 per cent less in infrastructure investment than the provincial average.
“Our tax dollars are largely funnelled elsewhere. We aren’t given the same level of care,” Hardy said.
He said the latest needs assessment for Red Deer hospital, which has yet to be released by government, would identify how many central Albertans get surgery elsewhere and the gaps in services and resources.
Related:
Redoing hip surgeries are costly, says new study
Doctors getting smaller payment increases, doctors per person rising: Institute
In a statement, Alberta Health Services said the report covers the period between April and September 2018, and since September, AHS has been working to improve wait times for critical surgery for cancer, cardiac, cataract and orthopedic patients, and has improved wait times for imaging (CT and MRI).
AHS said an additional 200 hip and knee replacements were completed in the south and central zones over the past year. Across Alberta, an additional 221 bypass surgeries will be completed by this summer.
“We know that we need to continue to improve in the area of wait times, and that for too many Albertans, this is a major issue. We are confident that our efforts, in partnership with physicians and surgeons, will continue to reduce wait times, both in the short and long term,” AHS said.
AHS also invested more money to expand the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program to 16 hospitals from five.
Hardy said Red Deer was one of the first five hospitals in the program and the only Alberta hospital to win a meritorious award from the American College of Surgeons for its low complication rates. Red Deer is a leader, meanwhile, funding concerns persist.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter