Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro (right) announces the Alberta Surgical Wait Times Initiative at the Southern Alberta Eye Center, with Dr. Geoff Williams (left), Dr. Amin Kherani and eye patient Stan Grad (seated).

By Dori Modney with files from The Canadian Press and Govt of Canada

Alberta eyes more operating rooms, contracts with private clinics for surgeries

Dec 10, 2019 | 3:50 PM

CALGARY – Alberta’s health minister is aiming to make the province a national leader on meeting wait-time targets by building more operating rooms and using more private clinics.

Tyler Shandro says the goal is to have 80,000 more surgeries done over the next 3 1/2 years.

Alberta Wait Times reporting shows that as of May 2019, more than 70,000 patients were waiting for scheduled surgery in Alberta. Of those, close to 20,000 had been waiting more than four months, and of those, just 61 per cent of all surgeries were performed within their clinically recommended targets.

In 2018-19, Alberta Health Services performed 85 per cent of all 293,000 provincial surgeries in its hospitals.

Shandro says a funding model is still being developed that will take its cue from a third-party review on health-care delivery that is to be delivered to the government before the end of the month

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He explained there are 42 clinics in Alberta handling 15 per cent of all surgeries, including publicly paid-for procedures such as hip and knee replacements and cataract removals.

These clinics, or non-hospital surgical facilities provide surgeries under contract with AHS. Most are in Edmonton and Calgary. All must be accredited by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta and follow safety and quality standards.

Shandro notes these clinics are underutilized and they will be used to the maximum to free up hospital operating rooms for more complex operations.

He says the province is also looking at opening more operating rooms. As Alberta’s population grows and ages, more people will need surgery each year. Since 2013-14, the province has experienced a 7.5 per cent increase in scheduled surgeries

The wait-times initiative will standardize the entire surgical system from the time patients seek advice from their family doctor, to when they are referred to a specialist, to their surgery and rehabilitation.

It will include, expanding telephone and electronic advice programs, so primary care providers can receive timely advice from medical and surgical specialists. It will also create a centralized electronic referral system that triages every person waiting for surgery so that they see the right specialist in the shortest time.

More information is expected in the spring 2020 budget.

Benchmarks for treatment and wait time trending across Canada.

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