The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Manitoba Health Minister Tim Sale this week congratulated doctors, nurses, clinical assistants and other health professionals for performing more than 3,300 elective hip and knee replacements in 2005-06, over 1,000 more surgeries than were performed in 2004-05. "This record number of surgeries means more Manitobans are getting the care they need sooner," said Sale. "This progress is a great sign that our investments and program changes are working and I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of Manitoba's health-care professionals." "In 2005, we planned to increase capacity by 1,000 surgeries over the next two years," said Sale. "Today we are proud to say that we have met that target in only a year." These surgeries were performed at Boundary Trails, Brandon, Concordia, Seven Oaks, Health Sciences Centre, Victoria and Grace Hospitals. In the last six months, the wait-list in Winnipeg alone has decreased 17 per cent to 2,582 from 3,100. The introduction of clinical assistants and the adoption of a two operating room model at Concordia Hospital has allowed the facility to perform up to eight surgeries a day instead of the standard three. Manitoba is one of only a handful of provinces that have adopted these types of efficiency measures. The pioneering work at Concordia is now being looked at by other community hospitals as part of the effort to treat those who are waiting the longest. Sale noted that recent initiatives to target patients who are waiting longer than acceptable standards have shown success. In the last quarter, more than 50 per cent of surgeries were preformed on patients who had waited more than 40 weeks. The goal is to increase that number to 60 per cent. Sale also noted that the wait time for hip and knee surgery in Winnipeg has come down to 39 weeks in April from 44 weeks in March. "As we continue to do more surgeries, we expect that the wait-list will continue to be reduced," said Sale. "But there is still work to do to get the wait time down. We can't eliminate the wait-list overnight, but we have set the foundations and are pleased with such positive early results." There are now 37 orthopedic surgeons working in Winnipeg, six more than in 1999. Eighteen of these surgeons regularly perform replacement surgeries. In addition, there are now three clinical assistants working in orthopedics in Winnipeg. In October 2005, the province announced a $155-million Wait-time Reduction Strategy which committed funding to reduce wait-lists in priority areas including orthopedics, sight restoration, cardiac, cancer and diagnostic imaging.5/6/06
