Surgical backlog in Windsor below pre-pandemic levels
Windsor Regional Hospital is slowly chipping away at the backlog of non-urgent surgeries.
According to the hospital, as of May 19, there are 4,020 people on the wait list. In November 2019, the wait list had 6,370 patients on it.
Hospital officials say they’ve achieved the improvements from various measures, including consolidating fracture and urology clinics to one site, moving cases where appropriate into the community, reducing hospital stays and prioritizing patients who are over the targeted wait time benchmark.
However, across Ontario, the surgical backlog is rising.
According to the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), there are currently 22 million services on the wait list. They say that number grew by one million procedures in the last three months alone.
Windsor physician Dr. Albert Ng says the key to clearing the backlog, province-wide isn’t necessarily spending more money.
Ng says the entire healthcare system needs to be reevaluated.
“We need to transform the system and look at how we do things and what maybe works okay but what could work better,” says Ng.
Ng and the OMA hope electors will vote for the candidate they believe will focus their efforts on healthcare, once elected.
“I think we just need to be vocal about what our needs are here,” says Ng. “We have to make sure that Queen’s Park is aware of the needs of this region and to you know, just get their attention.”
CTV News looked at each of the four main parties, running in the provincial election, to see if their platform includes a focus on surgical wait times.
Conservative: (from Spring Budget)
To increase capacity and to build a strong and resilient health care system, the government is investing $300 million in 2022–23 as part of the province’s Surgical Recovery Strategy, bringing the total investment to roughly $880 million since the start of the pandemic.
The Surgical Recovery Strategy will increase scheduled surgeries, procedures and appropriate diagnostic imaging services with a focus on areas with the greatest reduction in services due to the pandemic. This strategy will also provide funding to hospitals for innovative solutions to address local needs and increase surgeries across the province. This investment will also support over 150,000 additional hours of MRI and CT diagnostic imaging scans.
Green platform:
Increase year-over-year hospital base operating funding to a minimum of 5 per cent.
• Work with the federal government to pro- vide surge funding to reduce the backlog in surgeries, imaging, and other services.
• Invest in new and expanded hospitals as needed to meet demand in high
Liberal platform:
If you’re waiting for a surgery or diagnostic procedure, you’re not alone. Millions have had their appointments delayed. While the Conservatives call on for-profit private hospitals to address these backlogs, we’ll
clear the waitlists with a $1 billion investment in public healthcare – empowering hospitals to operate significantly above pre-pandemic volumes, including into evenings and weekends. We’ll also establish maximum wait times for surgeries and return to pre-pandemic wait times by the end of 2022.
NDP platform:
Invest to eliminate the backlog: We’ll identify and publicize the number of delayed procedures and publish regular progress reports. We’ll expand operating room hours over the evenings and weekends to increase hospital capacity, engage in a health care worker hiring blitz, and create a centralized referral system. We’ll make sure this gets done without privatizing our health care system.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
U.S. flight attendant indicted in attempt to record teen girl in airplane bathroom
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.