British Columbia health authorities and physicians completed thousands of additional surgeries from June 2015 to March 2016, as part of a government strategy to improve access to surgery.

More than 5,000 additional surgeries were made possible with $10 million in funding made available to health authorities, announced in June 2015, as well as a further $15 million later in the year. The funding was targeted to help increase surgical access throughout the province.

“I’d like to thank the health authorities, physicians, nurses and other health-care professionals for their commitment to patients and getting British Columbians the surgeries they need, sooner,” Health Minister Terry Lake said. “These extra surgeries are just one part of our strategy to improve surgical care throughout B.C.

“While we’ve seen some success with short-term solutions, like this targeted funding, we continue to collaborate with health authorities and other stakeholders to shorten waitlists and improve surgical care for the long term. We recognize that there is still work to do.”

Health authorities completed the extra surgeries by reducing seasonal operating room closures, extending hours of service and contracting with private-sector surgical sites. Of the extra surgeries completed, 43% were cataract surgeries and 12% were total joint (hip, knee) arthroplasty. The remainder included many different kinds of surgeries, such as hernia repair, arthroscopy and ear, nose and throat procedures.

“We have several projects ongoing across the province, working in collaboration with the Doctors of BC, surgeons and health authorities, which will make a real improvement in patient care and wait times,” said Dr. Andy Hamilton, co-chair of the ministry’s Provincial Surgery Executive Committee (PSEC). “While there is not a single, magic-pill solution, I am confident that this systematic approach will improve patient experience, outcomes and satisfaction.”

Guided by the policy paper on improved surgical services, the ministry and PSEC are developing plans for longer-term solutions, including:

• Providing accurate and up-to-date information about the number of patients waiting for surgery, how long they are waiting and how urgently they need their procedure. This will be built into a new province-wide system that will then be used for managing the patient’s journey from referral by the general practitioner (GP) to completion of the procedure.
• Conducting a systematic analysis of the wait list to identify the backlog and predict future demand or growth, to predict current and future resource requirements.
• Working with health authorities to address specific barriers to increase capacity that may include operating rooms, hospital beds, nursing staff, support staff, anesthesiologists and surgeons.
• Launching a comprehensive human-resource strategy for surgery that ensures the necessary physicians, nurses and support staff are available.
• Introducing new provincial waitlist management policies, principles and standardized processes for health authorities to ensure waitlists are managed effectively, patients are scheduled for surgery based on more consistent assessment of clinical need and patients have access to the information they need to get ready for surgery.
• Refreshing the ministry’s surgical wait times website to provide better public access to wait time and wait list data, including the information about how long it takes to be seen by a surgeon.

The ministry is also examining alternative practice models, such as pooled referrals; team-based physician practices that share referrals to the first available surgeon; multidisciplinary teams that include physicians, nurses and other allied health-care workers; and increased use of publicly funded contracted surgical services.

Learn more:

The Ministry of Health’s policy paper on Future Directions for Surgical Services is available online: http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library/publications/year/2015/surgical-services-policy-paper.pdf

The Ministry of Health’s strategic priorities document – Setting Priorities for the B.C. Health System: http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library/publications/year/2014/Setting-priorities-BC-Health-Feb14.pdf