Non-urgent surgery wait times on P.E.I. are longer than usual — and could get longer yet
CBC
A surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown is warning that some surgery wait times are longer than usual — and are set to get even longer — as the province's health-care system struggles to recover from the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Scott Wotherspoon, an orthopedic surgeon and the previous chief of surgery at the QEH, said urgent and emergency surgeries are going ahead, but Islanders waiting for restorative surgeries such as joint replacement, knee replacements and cataract surgery, could be waiting for more than a year.
"It's overwhelming to think about what lies ahead over the next 12 to 18 months," Wotherspoon said. "We show up to work and we try to do the best we can."
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) recommends surgeries such as hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery be done within a six-month window.
Wotherspoon said that some provinces, including P.E.I., struggled to hit those benchmarks before the pandemic — and the situation has gotten worse.
"Our benchmarks have steadily gotten worse. Right now our wait times are over a year for cataract surgery, for total joint replacement surgery," he said.
He said the hospital is now dealing with additional pandemic-related challenges, which are set to lengthen delays.
Surgeries can be delayed when members of the surgical team contract COVID-19, or when the patient tests positive.
Health-care worker shortages and surgeon burnout also affect wait times, Wotherspoon said.
He said it's challenging for physicians to tell patients that they'll need to wait months for the surgery they need, especially because often, those patients have waited to see the doctor in the first place.
"It's not a good feeling," he said. "Unfortunately we don't have much more that we can do. We're trying to do as much as we can, trying to be as efficient as we can, but we're frankly always behind the eight ball."
Recent data from CIHI shows that all provinces are dealing with longer-than-average delays for restorative or elective surgeries.
In May, CIHI published a study saying the situation has improved since 2020, but the average wait time across the country is still longer than it was pre-pandemic.
Wotherspoon said that P.E.I. is working hard to recruit more health-care workers, but he is aware that the population is aging, and the demand for joint and knee replacements is set to rise in the next few years.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Work on Windsor's large Banwell Road interchange and corridor construction projects is currently on hold after Butler's gartersnakes were discovered.
Etched on a poster board the size of her body, Mary McPherson held up a pencil-drawn portrait of Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
One of the largest old elm trees in Toronto — possibly in all of southern Ontario — is on its last legs.
It's graduation week for many University of Guelph students, but it's a particularly special day for one 68-year-old whose walk across the convocation stage was 49 years in the making.
Scientists on Prince Edward Island have created a new warning system to help Maritime farmers avoid a costly disease called fusarium head blight, which can decrease grain yields while contaminating the crop with toxins.
An N.W.T. deputy minister says the territorial government is hoping to use federal housing money to clear derelict homes from communities.
WARNING: This article contains graphic details, references sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.
Monique Gordon's second-floor apartment in Rexdale is sweltering hot all year-round — even in the winter.
As Fanshawe works toward reducing its staff by more than a third, the college announced Thursday that 40 jobs have been eliminated through downsizing, early retirements and unfilled vacant positions.
Newfoundland and Labrador has unveiled a new online crime dashboard allowing users, with a click of a button, to see how their own communities rate against one another when it comes to violence.
Nova Scotia's whirlwind push to establish a uranium sector has yielded zero bids from companies interested in exploring for the critical mineral, a fact that left Premier Tim Houston unfazed Thursday and opponents of the industry relieved.
Premier Susan Holt says a second large-size nuclear power plant is back on the table to help address the growing demand for electricity both inside New Brunswick and beyond its borders.
Manitoba's premier says his government could use emergency powers to free up hotel rooms for people who escaped the wildfires still raging in the province's north.