Province launches new website for orthopedic surgery patients
Posted Jul 22, 2010 05:55:27 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A newly-launched website carrying information to help Nova Scotians prepare for hip and knee replacement surgery cost hundreds of thousands of dollars – but the province is stressing it isn’t at the expense of patient care.
The Department of Health has created an orthopedic patient information website, called MySurgery which contains tips and facts about what to expect from the time their family doctor refers them to a surgeon to the rehabilitation period after surgery.
Liberal health critic Diana Whalen says there’s good information on the new website, but questions whether the $364,000 used to create it would have been better used to help promote healthier lifestyles.
“If we could change some of the lifestyle issues we might prevent some surgeries,” she said. “That’s where I would have put any additional money if they could have economized on that website.”
Health Department spokesman Ryan Van Horne says the money was provided by Health Canada specifically to set up the site.
“This isn’t money that we could have spent on hiring surgeons or creating more operating room space,” he said. “This was something that was specifically targeted by Health Canada.”
Van Horne says the technical development of the website was just over $100,000, which included graphic design work and a content management system.
