Health P.E.I will change how it tracks wait times for surgery following AG report

Health P.E.I. has agreed to make changes to the way it tracks surgery wait times in response to a report released Tuesday by the province's auditor general.

Auditor General Darren Noonan found Health P.E.I.'s reporting on wait times for cataract surgery and hip and knee replacements is not consistent with national standards.

Information on the agency's website has, at times, been as much as a year out of date.

"[Health P.E.I. has] the data available to them, it's just a matter of reporting it correctly," said Noonan. "When we reviewed the executive leadership team minutes, we didn't see any evidence where wait times were discussed or possible solutions were discussed. So perhaps, when we get a report like this, it'll bring attention to the matter." 

Health P.E.I. CEO Michael Gardam took some exception to that characterization. He said the audit was done during the COVID-19 pandemic, and surgical wait times were discussed "every single day," even if those discussions weren't reflected in the executive team's meeting minutes. 

"It was a standing item on everything that we talked about. I'm happy to say P.E.I. is the only province during COVID that our wait times didn't get worse," said Gardham. "[The auditor general's report] perhaps implies that we don't pay attention to this, but we actually pay micro-attention to this."

Noonan said he would like to see P.E.I. emulate Nova Scotia and post wait times on its website for individual surgeons. 

In that province, family physicians are able to refer their patients to surgeons with shorter wait times — an option that doesn't exist on the Island. 

While Gardam acknowledged these national benchmarks are important measures, he also said life-saving procedures like cancer treatments or access to intensive care units can take priority over things like knee and hip surgeries.  

"We have a gazillion priorities, wait lists are one of them, but these particular surgeries are in a long list of priorities that we have, and it doesn't mean just because they're measured that they have to be the number 1 priority," he said.  

Gardam said Health P.E.I. is trying to set up a centralized referral service that would make it easy to assign patients to the next available specialist.

Noonan also found wait times have increased by about 36 per cent over the past decade — because while the population has grown, the number of surgeries performed has remained about the same. 

The auditor general would also like to see Health P.E.I. start to track consult wait times — the time it takes between a patient getting a referral to the time they actually see a surgeon.