New surgical operator aims to reduce wait times in Alberta

“Our teams have been working hard to increase surgeries for Albertans, to bring down surgical wait times,” says Chies. “Working with vendors such as Canadian Surgery Solutions will help us with this goal. Thank you to our partners and all of the teams at AHS who are working together to make this happen.”

In Calgary alone, the government says there are about 6,000 people who are waiting for orthopedic surgeries, more than half of whom are waiting longer than the clinically-appropriate timeframes for knee and hip replacements.

For Alberta overall, there are around 21,200 people on wait lists for orthopedic surgeries.

Health Minister Jason Copping says the new contract with CSS will result in approximately 21 per cent more orthopedic procedures being performed in the Calgary area compared to 2021-22.

“Albertans, many of whom are in pain, are waiting too long for life-changing knee and hip surgeries in Calgary,” says Copping. “Our Health Care Action Plan will accelerate adding more surgeries both at hospitals across Alberta and at chartered surgical facilities to bring down wait times to the waiting period recommended by medical experts.”

CSS recently began welcoming patients for overnight orthopedic surgeries at one of its facilities in Calgary. The second facility, at the Rockyview Surgical Centre, is currently undergoing renovations and is scheduled to to reopen in early 2023.

The Alberta Government has been partnering with more chartered surgical facilities across the province, who specialize in a variety of fields.

Last spring, Holy Cross Surgical Services and Vision Group Canada, in Calgary and Edmonton, began conducting cataract surgeries.

AHS also put out a request for proposals for surgery operators in both the South and Central Health Zones last fall.

David Shepherd, Alberta NDP Critic for Health, issued the following statement in response:

“The UCP’s plan to expand surgical privatization will do lasting harm to Alberta’s public health-care system and ultimately lead to more out-of-pocket costs for Albertans.

“Expanding for-profit care takes staff and resources away from the public system which is already experiencing severe staffing shortages thanks to Danielle Smith and the UCP.

“Private companies exist to make a profit, and every health-care dollar that goes to companies’ profit margin is a dollar taken out of the public system. Sooner or later those dollars start coming out of patients’ pockets.

“The UCP must be upfront about the possibility for patients to be up-sold or pressured to pay out of pocket for different services and products.

“The UCP has not offered one reason why increased capacity cannot be built within the public system. Health Minister Jason Copping talked today about how surgery-specific facilities can increase efficiency of surgeries, which is true, but that can still be done within the public system.

“This has never been about improving access or shortening waitlists, it’s about guaranteeing long-term profits to private, for-profit surgical centres,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “The Minister repeatedly stating that these are ‘publicly-funded’ surgeries doesn’t change the fact our public health care dollars are being used to subsidize private profit, instead of going towards frontline care.”

“Today’s announcement increasing the use of for-profit surgical centres in Calgary will only make our health care staffing challenges worse” said Gallaway. “Expanding private surgical centres doesn’t create more surgeons or nurses, it simply moves our limited staff around while further fragmenting the system.”

(With files from rdnewsNOW)

by David Opinko/LethbridgeNewsNOW

New surgical operator aims to reduce wait times in Alberta

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