Latest data shows that while the monthly number of scheduled surgeries is approaching pre-pandemic levels, it is not enough to clear the backlog and improve wait times
can we read in the report of theICIS.
Declines in the number of surgeries in the first two years of the pandemic have caused a backlog that the health system has not yet been able to address. During 2020, widespread cancellations of surgery and closures during the waves of Covid-19 also accentuated this delay.
According to the independent non-profit organization that provides data on the Canadian healthcare system, 36,000 fewer knee replacement surgeries were performed nationally, between April 2020 and September 2022. That’s 20%. less than before the pandemic. Hip arthroplasties are 11% less over the same period.
Last year, only half of patients received knee replacement surgery within the recommended six-month timeframe. Seventy percent of them were able to receive their treatment within the expected time before the arrival of the Covid. For hip arthroplasty, less than 60% received it within the recommended time frame, compared to 75% before the pandemic.
Delays in these so-called interventions scheduled
if they do not put patients at risk, can have an impact on their quality of life and their ability to work.
Delays with multiple causes
For Tracy Johnson, director of health systems analysis at theICIS, the continued shortage of staff in hospitals is only compounding the problem, in addition to the increased demand for joint replacements in recent years due to the aging of the Canadian population
.
University Hospital Network of Toronto (UHN), one of the largest hospitals in the country, is also trying somehow to catch up.
« We are operating at nearly 120% operating room capacity »
We open additional operating rooms on weekends. We are opening up other care areas, such as procedure rooms, to act as operating rooms to clear up some of the backlog, which also allows us to try to meet the priorities of some of our most intensive and urgent care
explains Dr. Thomas Forbes, the establishment’s chief surgeon.
Adjustments that can have long-term consequences according to this specialist, while hospitals must continue to provide on other fronts, whether it is cardiovascular care, neurological problems or transplants.
« We are facing a crisis »
Dr. Pierre Guy, president-elect of the Canadian Orthopedic Association, estimates that the system was already facing a problem before the pandemic, with at least 160,000 Canadians waiting for orthopedic surgery, about half of them for a knee or hip arthroplasty. He believes that it will be necessary to focus on the recruitment and retention of staff to compensate for the departures recorded during the pandemic.
The different levels of government are also taking far-reaching measures. Federal health care funding for the provinces includes $25 billion earmarked for several priority areas, such as backlogs and the health workforce.
Ontario plans to go through privatization, contracting out more procedures to private, for-profit clinics – a controversial approach as some medical experts believe it will likely increase the real cost to taxpayers and could even worsen the waiting time.
Long-term consequences to fear
High-priority cancer surgeries were also delayed last year. According to data from theICISbetween April and September 2022, the number of surgeries for breast, bladder, colorectal, lung and prostate cancer were around 1,000 – or two percent – lower than the same period in 2019, figures that do not concern Quebec.
If these delays do not concern health professionals, they fear on the other hand that those who touch the screenings have harmful effects in the long term. Last year, scientists warned that declining screenings could mean fewer diagnoses of invasive cancers, delays in treatment and increased health risks for patients.
With information from Laurent Pelley, CBC