By Cheryl Jahn

Surgical Wait Lists To Be Addressed

Mar 21, 2018 | 2:41 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Premier John Horgan announced a four-year plan to deal with surgical wait lists, with one of the first priorities being five hip and knee replacement programs. 

In a recent Northern Health Board meeting, hip fracture fixation surgery wait lists were identified, with 48 hours being the magical number.

“The evidence does support that people who suffer from a hip fracture if that surgery can be completed within 48 hours, they have much better outcomes,” says Penny Anguish, Chief Operating Officer for Northern Health.

The number of patients in Northern Health received that form of surgery was between 62% and 100%. But Anquish says that depends on a number of variables, such as travel time, but the tendency is closer to 100%.

Another area of concern for Northern Health is the wait times for elective surgery. The provincial goal is to have no more than five percent of patients waiting longer than 26 weeks for scheduled surgery. Anguish says that number was closer to 25% 18 months ago. Part of the issue at that time was the availability of specialty nurses, one of the critical players in the operating room. Today, there are still some challenges around anaesthesiologists.

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“We’re working very hard around recruitment for anaesthesiology to be able to shore up those numbers,” says Anquish.

The greatest challenge is with University Hospital of Northern BC and Dawson Creek.