Province earns medical award

The Government of Saskatchewan has received the Canadian Orthopaedic Association Award of Merit for leading the country in wait time reductions for orthopedic surgery on bone, muscle and joint conditions.

Health Minister Dustin Duncan accepted the award Thursday night at the annual conference for orthopedic surgeons in Winnipeg.

"It is gratifying that all the innovation and hard work being done in this province to provide surgery for patients sooner is being recognized," Duncan said. "The number of patients waiting more than six months for orthopedic surgery has fallen from 2,700 down to 775 in the past three years. The teams of health professionals whose innovation and collaboration made this possible deserve our thanks."

The latest provincial wait times numbers (to April 30) show continued progress toward Saskatchewan's goal of offering all surgical patients a procedure within three months.

Since 2007, the number of all patients waiting more than three months for surgery has fallen 56 per cent (from 15,357 to 6,723, or 8,625 fewer patients waiting). The reduction since the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative was launched in April 2010 is also 56 per cent.

As of April 30, 18,824 patients were waiting for surgery in the province, down from 26,739 in November 2007 and from 27,580 when the Surgical Initiative was launched in April 2010.

Thanks to a $70.5 million provincial investment in surgical care in the 2013-14 fiscal year, about 89,000 surgeries will be performed in Saskatchewan this year, an increase of 7,000 from last year.

Information about the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative is available at www.sasksurgery.ca. The website also features the Specialist Directory, which empowers patients and their primary care providers to compare options for surgical care.