Saskatchewan's government is providing more than $40 million in additional funding for the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative this year, so that more patients receive surgery sooner. Health regions will use the funding to accelerate increases in surgical capacity and make longer term plans for diagnostic and surgical services.
"This significant financial commitment reaffirms our confidence in the fresh approaches and innovative work going on in Saskatchewan's health system, and our dedication to putting patients first," Health Minister Don McMorris said. "Our goal is to provide sooner, safer, smarter surgical care through improved access to key health services, and with this announcement we've taken another huge step forward."
The funding will enable health regions to complete an additional 5,550 surgeries next year - an increase of almost eight per cent. Saskatoon Health Region will provide approximately 1,750 more surgeries, Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region approximately 1,700, and other health regions combined will account for the remaining 2,100 additional procedures. By the end of 2011-12, the Initiative's goal is to reduce all surgical wait times to less than 12 months.
Funding will also be directed toward a fourth magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine for Saskatoon, and to the following areas:quality improvement initiatives;expansion of the electronic Surgical Information System to more hospitals;physician services;additional work on "patient pathways" to streamline care;staff training (including operating room nurses); andhome care and post-operative rehabilitation services.
"We know the work we are doing takes time, but we are seeing a big difference," McMorris said. "Since 2007, the number of patients waiting longer than 12 months for surgery has dropped 27 per cent and the number waiting more than 18 months has dropped 51 per cent."
From the time the Surgical Initiative was launched in March 2010, the number of patients waiting more than 12 months has declined 12 per cent, and the number waiting more than 18 months has dropped 26 per cent.
"We are all committed to providing the best possible care for our patients, and this funding will go a long way toward improving surgical care and related services," Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative physician leader Dr. David Kopriva said. "As a physician, I see the system changing for the better, for both patients and providers."
Funding allocations for each health region will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative's goals are to transform the surgical patient experience, and to ensure that by 2014, no surgical patient in Saskatchewan waits more than three months for surgery. More information about the Initiative is available at www.health.gov.sk.ca/saskatchewan-surgical-initiative.
