Hip replacement patients waiting several weeks longer in south zone
By Gillian Slade on January 18, 2019.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade Hatters waiting for hip replacement surgerywait more than seven weeks longer than the provincial average, according Alberta Health Services online data. For the first quarter of the 2018 fiscal year the provincial average wait, for 90 per cent of patients, was 44.1 weeks and 45.3 weeks in the second quarter. Hip replacement patients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospitalin the first quarter waited 51.5 weeks,7.4 weeks longer than the provincial average. In the second quarter it was 52.9 weeks,a 7.6-week added wait. These waiting times provided by AHS are based on the time from the decision to treat to the date of treatment. “There has been ongoing work to increase the number of hip and knee arthroplasty surgeries provincially, which includes an increase for Medicine Hat,” saidAHS in an emailed response. “In 2018/19 South Zone requested and received funding for an additional 50 hip/knee surgeries, based on physician availability and current operating room capacity, bringing the total number of arthroplasty procedures per year to 1,209.” In the Calgary zone the average wait for the first quarter, in the same fiscal year as data above, was 36.3 weeks, in the central zone 41 weeks and the Edmonton zone 44.3 weeks. In general the wait for hip replacement surgery has been creeping up across the province, not just the south zone. In the AHS fiscal year 2012/13 the provincial average wait was 36.3 weeks and 42.9 weeks in the south zone, which includes Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. “This is not just a South Zone or Alberta problem — increasing wait-times for surgeries are an issue in many health-care jurisdictions across Canada, due to a growing and aging population,” an AHS emailed response said. In deciding on the number of procedures to be accomplished each year factors such as funding and the number of procedures each facility is requesting are considered. “Surgical volumes are based on need and capacity, which is determined by available resources including funding, OR space, availability of surgeons, nursing and anesthesia staff and equipment to perform these important surgeries,” reads a statement. Surgeries are prioritized based on medical information, clinical urgency, and allocated operating room time. Patients who require emergency surgery will receive it urgently, said AHS. 14
-13
