NB will list wait times for each surgeon

This change reflects an intent to increase transparency in public reporting and promote better referral planning among providers mentions the memo signed by Acting Assistant Deputy Minister Éric Levesque.

The site will also allow New Brunswick to be closer to its provincial counterparts, while providing New Brunswickers with a way to learn about wait times for surgery in New Brunswick he wrote.

The Wait Times website currently provides wait times in days for health care facilities, surgical specialties, and selected surgical procedures.

When updated this summer, the website will list each surgeon, their specialty, health sector and wait time in days.

The Department of Health did not immediately respond to a CBC interview request.

The New Brunswick Medical Society, which represents physicians in the province, declined to comment Monday, including whether it was consulted about the change and what, if any. A presentation of the new system must be made in the coming days, admitted their spokesman Jim Johnson.

The Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick, Dr. Ed Schollenberg, was out of province and could not be reached for comment.

The new provincial health plan

The website update falls under the Provincial Surgical Advisory Group established in June 2020 to advise the Department of Health and Regional Health Authorities on strategies to address issues related to the provision of surgical services in New Brunswick, including wait times, speed and appropriateness of service.

” We believe that reporting information on surgeon wait times can help citizens and healthcare providers understand wait times for surgery in the province and, therefore, make decisions enlightened about their wait time journey. »

In November 2021, the Department of Health released a new provincial plan, Stabilizing Health Care: An Urgent Call to Action, which addresses long wait times for surgeries .

It described a pilot project slated to begin in April, where primary care providers could electronically refer citizens to orthopedic specialists. Citizens would then have the option of choosing the next available specialist in their health zone or waiting for a specific surgeon.

Over the next two years, this process will expand to other specialties across the province. said Health Minister Dorothy Shephard.

By 2023, the list of citizens waiting more than a year for hip and knee replacement surgery will be eliminated, and no one will wait more than a year for service, Dorothy Shephard had reported.

Within two years, all surgery wait times will be cut in half, she promised.

Statistics

In New Brunswick, only 47% of citizens (72% in Canada) receive hip or knee replacement surgery within six months of orthopedic surgeon clearance.

For hip replacements, five out of 10 surgeries province-wide were completed within 192 days between January and March, according to the Wait Times website.

One in ten projects across the province have still not been completed after 490 days.

That’s two and a half times the national threshold of 182 days for hip replacements.

The longest wait is at The Moncton Hospital, with one in ten patients still waiting 595 days.

Please note that data from January to March 2020 should be viewed with caution as wait times have been directly impacted by COVID-19 says the website.

A total of 180 hip replacements were performed across the province between January and March 2022.

During the same period last year, 328 hip replacements were performed, five out of ten within 273 days and one out of ten still pending after 493 days.

For knee replacements, five out of ten surgeries were completed within 287 days between January and March this year, while one was still pending after 563 days.

The national benchmark for knee replacements is also 182 days.

Once again, the longest wait was at The Moncton Hospital, with one in 10 patients not having completed their treatment after 853 days.

During this three-month period, 260 knee replacements were performed.

Last year, 604 knee replacements were performed within this timeframe. Five of the ten requests were processed in 271 days and one was still pending after 544 days.

According to current projections, nearly one-third of New Brunswick’s population will be over 65 by the end of the 2030s, according to the department.

According to a CBC report