N.S. gets B grade in national wait-time report card
Posted Jun 22, 2011 06:18:57 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Wait Time Alliance has released its 6th annual report card giving Canadians a picture of how long they have to wait to get a broad range of medical care.
The Alliance gave Nova Scotia a grade of ‘B’ for reducing wait times in five targeted areas – cancer care, heart procedures, diagnostic imaging, joint replacement and sight restoration.
MJ MacDonald is a wait time specialist with the Department of Health and says the grade is solid, but leaves room for improvement.
“An overall ‘B’ average may not be a leader in all areas,” says MacDonald. “There were some really good areas. There were some areas that needed some work and will need some work.”
WTA Chair Dr. Lorne Bellan says one of the areas Nova Scotia can be very proud of is its wait time website, which he says was a recommendation no other province has adopted.
“Nova Scotia is the one province now that’s also reporting some non-surgical wait times and that’s something that we’ve been clamoring for from the beginning,” says Bellan. “There’s definitely room for improvement but overall it’s not a bad site.”
Nova Scotia received the only ‘F’ out of all the provinces, for poor knee replacement wait times.
MacDonald says the low score is because the province has seen a 40 per cent increase in procedures.
“The reason we continue to lose ground is the pressure on the demand side which is our aging population,” she said. “A population that has challenges, frankly, with obesity.”
Dr. Bellan has a similar theory.
“I’m presuming that a big part of the problem is orthopedic surgeons,” says Bellan. “Usually poor scores correlate with either insufficient operating room resources or an insufficient number of surgeons.”
Bellan says that for the provinces with better grades, like Ontario and Quebec, it starts at the top with management.
“Some of the other provinces just haven’t accepted the concept of complete direct management and hands on approach to control wait times,” he said.
For more information on Nova Scotia wait times, visit the Department of Health wait time website.
