Orthopaedic surgeries down 25% in B.C. public hospitals as private sector picks up slack
The surgeons who replace worn-out joints and fix broken bones report that they’re doing only three quarters of the surgeries they used to in British Columbia's public hospitals, with an increasing number of taxpayer-funded procedures carried out in private facilities.
The anecdotal figures come as multiple orthopaedists have contacted CTV News to report wait times have grown so long for their patients, some of them are no longer seeing new people for assessments.
“In terms of the days I have allotted in the operating room, they're still running at maybe 75 per cent (of what it used to be),” said Dr. Cassandra Lane Dielwart, president of the BC Orthopaedic Association, from her practice in Kelowna. “We're booking less surgeries, we're putting less people into that surgical slot because we don't have the hospital capacity to get the same amount of work done.”
Dielwart and other healthcare workers describe a scarcity of experienced peri-operative nurses, staffed recovery beds, and other resources resulting in fewer patients each day a surgeon takes up a scalpel.
On the North Shore, Dr. Richard Nadeau said that where he used to have around six dedicated operating room days a month pre-pandemic, he only gets about four now.
“The time from when they see a surgeon to the time they have surgery, there's a higher proportion of patients that are waiting longer,” he said. “These patients do live with a significant amount of pain and disability so we do want to advocate for them.”
MORE PRIVATE CENTRES PERFORMING PUBLIC SURGERIES
This comes at a time the health minister says that the province is performing record numbers of surgeries.
“The number of people waiting for surgeries has dropped,” claimed Adrian Dix on an appearance of CTV Morning Live on Monday.
But sources say not only are surgeons willing to see fewer new patients as wait times grow, they’re also sceptical of all the government’s claims because only part of the patient’s experience – from the time their pain begins to the day they have a hip replacement, for example – is captured in government statistics and doesn’t include delays in medical imaging.
Dielwart revealed that government has increasingly gone to privately-operated surgical clinics for day procedures, like arthroscopic surgery, which is contracted with taxpayer dollars so the patient doesn’t pay. She emphasized there are wide variations in wait times and reliance on private surgical centres throughout the province.
In the 2020/2021 fiscal year, the province spent a record $27 million for private delivery of public healthcare at surgical clinics, so CTV News asked the ministry of health for updated numbers; four business days after our request was made, they still have not provided them.
WHAT COMES NEXT
Despite criticism that there’s only one pool of healthcare workers in the province and use of private surgical centres undermines the public system, Dix has defended the growing use of those centres since the numbers are so small: from 3.5 per cent of total surgeries in 2018 to 4.4 per cent in 2020.
“Having a small number of surgeries that increase our capacity,” he told CTV News last August. “As long as there's no extra billing and they follow the Medicare Protection Act, I don’t have any objection to that.
But even Dielwart, who has been a proponent of the increased use of private surgical centres to clear patient backlogs and improve their quality of life, is concerned about the most complex cases relying on a public hospital system that’s deteriorating.
“My biggest fear and the fear of many different surgeons is this becomes our new normal – that all of a sudden our Canadian healthcare system our British Columbia healthcare system is operating at 75 per cent,” she said. “Efficiencies have gone so low that thinking forward, we're going to have a hard time keeping up even to what's happening right now.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
'It was joy': Trapped B.C. orca calf eats seal meat, putting rescue on hold
A rescue operation for an orca calf trapped in a remote tidal lagoon off Vancouver Island has been put on hold after it started eating seal meat thrown in the water for what is believed to be the first time.
Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
B.C. judge orders shared dog custody for exes who both 'clearly love Stella'
In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a B.C. judge has awarded a former couple joint custody of their dog.
Saskatoon police to search landfill for remains of woman missing since 2020
Saskatoon police say they will begin searching the city’s landfill for the remains of Mackenzie Lee Trottier, who has been missing for more than three years.
Shivering for health: The myths and truths of ice baths explained
In a climate of social media-endorsed wellness rituals, plunging into cold water has promised to aid muscle recovery, enhance mental health and support immune system function. But the evidence of such benefits sits on thin ice, according to researchers.