'Notoriously untransparent': Sask. budget to reduce surgery backlog has no plan behind it, expert says
Saskatchewan has no real strategy to perform more surgeries, according to a health policy analyst.
The province is spending $42 million for 6,000 more surgeries. It aims to conduct a total of 100,000 surgeries, and reduce the waitlist to its pre-pandemic level by March 2024.
“They’re pretty silent on how they're going to do that,” Steven Lewis, an adjunct professor of health policy at Simon Fraser University, told CTV News.
With a shortage of doctors and nurses in Saskatchewan, Lewis wonders how the province will hit its surgery target.
“A surgeon is a surgeon, and whether the surgeon is doing the procedure in a private facility, or the public facility, you're going to have a finite capacity,” Lewis says.
Surgeries are one of the only core medicare services that get contracted to private practices. Surgeons can operate in both publicly funded and private facilities.
Lewis questions the province’s motive for outsourcing surgery to the private sector. He says the contracts are “notoriously untransparent.”
“I don't see what the rationale is. If there's an economic case, make it transparent,” Lewis says.
“We never actually get to see how much they're paying for a procedure done in the private system compared to what it costs in the public system.”
The Ministry of Health did not provide the cost, or price difference, of public versus private surgeries but said private surgical centres increase capacity.
“Since the launch of private surgical centres in April 2010, third-party facilities in Regina and Saskatoon have provided much-needed additional day surgery capacity in the health system, performing roughly 13 per cent of the total number of surgeries completed in the province each year,” a statement from the ministry to CTV News, reads.
“These surgical procedures will remain publicly funded; in order to address our surgical wait list and improve access for our patients, we must take advantage of all opportunities to work with our partners to fully utilize the resources available.”
More than 34,000 patients are waiting for surgery in Saskatchewan, according to the latest data.
Twenty-four per cent of those patients have been waiting for more than a year. Orthopaedic surgery has the longest waitlist of 11,557 people.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), a data collection company funded by the provincial and federal governments, says the pandemic is largely responsible for longer wait times.
Since March 2020, CIHI found 937,000 fewer surgeries were performed across Canada.
In Saskatchewan, there were about 36,000 fewer surgeries.
CIHI found more patients aren’t receiving surgeries in the recommended time frame.
Tracy Johnson, the director of health system analytics at CIHI, says the data means more people are in pain longer, as they await their procedure.
“While it may not be life threatening for someone with a hip or knee replacement, not to get their surgery is uncomfortable pain,” Johnson says.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Israel attacks Iran, Reuters sources say; drones reported over Isfahan
Israel has attacked Iran, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters, as Iranian state media reported early on Friday that its forces had destroyed drones, days after Iran launched a retaliatory drone strike on Israel.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Nearly half of China's major cities are sinking, researchers say
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
Prince Harry formally confirms he is now a U.S. resident
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
Judge says 'no evidence fully supports' murder case against Umar Zameer as jury starts deliberations
The judge presiding over the trial of a man accused of fatally running over a Toronto police officer is telling jurors the possible verdicts they may reach based on the evidence in the case.
Health Canada to change sperm donor screening rules for men who have sex with men
Health Canada will change its longstanding policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned. The federal health agency has adopted a revised directive removing the ban on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, effective May 8.
Colin Jost names one celebrity who is great at hosting 'Saturday Night Live'
Colin Jost, who co-anchors Saturday Night Live's 'Weekend Update,' revealed who he thinks is one of the best hosts on the show.
Sports columnist apologizes for 'oafish' comments directed at Caitlin Clark. The controversy isn't over
A male columnist has apologized for a cringeworthy moment during former University of Iowa superstar and college basketball's highest scorer Caitlin Clark's first news conference as an Indiana Fever player.
'Shopaholic' author Sophie Kinsella reveals brain cancer diagnosis
Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author behind the 'Shopaholic' book series, has revealed that she is receiving treatment for brain cancer.