A task force was created a year ago to determine how to reduce the backlog for surgeries and they have 32 recommendations which government will implement over the course of the next two years.
Health Minister Tom Osborne gave an update on Health Care Action this morning dealing with recommendations of the surgical backlog task force. He says the task force was created a year ago to determine how to reduce the backlog for surgeries and they have 32 recommendations which government will implement over the course of the next two years. Osborne says some of them are already in motion, such as exploring same day surgery options in the western region. In terms of how big the surgical backlog is, Cassie Chisholm is the Vice-President of Transformation (Health Systems), Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services. She says there are 3,000 people waiting for hip or knee surgeries and 4,000 cataract surgeries on the waitlist. Other recommendations included repurposing underused beds in care homes for non-surgical patients to free up beds in acute care, developing a centralized list of all surgical rooms to match with availability, and using ambulatory surgery centres focused on same day surgeries. Work is also underway to add a sixth operating room to the Janeway Children’s Hospital.
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