Province to reduce surgical wait times in Calgary through chartered facilities

The province says thousands of Albertans will have greater access to publicly funded orthopedic surgeries through the use of chartered surgical facilities in Calgary.

Health Minister Jason Copping made the announcement Monday morning at Canadian Surgery Solutions, an independent health care centre in northwest Calgary.

"Albertans, many of whom are in pain, are waiting too long for life-changing knee and hip surgeries in Calgary," said 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."

Copping says there are roughly 70,000 Albertans currently waiting for surgeries across the province and approximately 6,000 people in Calgary are awaiting orthopedic surgeries.

Starting this month, the province says Canadian Surgery Solutions will increase the number of hip and knee replacement procedures it conducts each year by 3,000 as per its new multi-year contract with Alberta Health Services (AHS).

"Regardless of whether an Albertan receives their surgery within a chartered surgical facility, or at an AHS hospital, the standard of care is measured the same way," said Dr. Jason Werle, orthopedic surgeon and section chief of orthopedic surgeries for AHS’s Calgary zone.

The partnership is expected to increase orthopedic surgeries in Calgary by 21 per cent.

"We ran on a promise to get surgical wait times down to the recommended wait times by the end of our term," said Copping.

"Unfortunately, COVID-19 came, and we are not going to be able to reach that goal. But we are still committed to that goal, and we're driving hard at it."

This move is also expected to free up additional spaces in hospitals, which will allow health care workers to perform other types of surgeries.

Laurene Head, whose daughter, Milan Schapowal, has been dealing with throat infections for more than a year and now "immediately" needs her tonsils removed, welcomes the news.

She says she was told Milan would have to wait one to two years to get the surgery, forcing her to stay on antibiotics in the meantime.

"This was formerly a very healthy 18-year-old girl, you know, prime of her life, going to college and playing volleyball, and has been sidelined with this," Head told CTV News.

Head is now considering taking her daughter to a private surgeon in B.C. or even the U.S. or Mexico.

However, that would come with a price tag of at least a couple thousand dollars, not including accommodations.

"It's been very stressful, like so stressful. You just want your kids healthy and I'm doing absolutely everything I can, making every phone call,” Head said.

Meanwhile, the Alberta NDP is concerned this is another step toward privatizing health care in the province.

"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," said David Shepherd, the official opposition's health critic.

"Expanding for-profit care takes staff and resources away from the public system, which is already experiencing widespread and severe staffing shortages."

Copping strongly disagrees.

"This is public health care. This is no different than you going to see your family doctor and that's paid to our health care system and is a private corporation. This is contracting additional resources to build our system," he said.

MORE ALBERTA DOCTORS

Meanwhile, Alberta's health minister says the government has seen progress in its effort to attract doctors to the province.

Copping pointed to a report from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta that found, as of December 2022, there were 11,407 registered doctors across the province, representing an annual increase of 254.

He also acknowledged the fact that Alberta still needs more and says the government is working not only on bringing more doctors to the province but nurses, too.

For now, he says, the increased number of doctors is split evenly between family physicians and specialists, with many headed to rural areas of the province that have been hit the hardest by the doctor shortage.

"They're being sponsored by AHS and they're being sponsored in areas like Pincher Creek and Lethbridge, where there is a shortage," said Copping.

"They're coming in being sponsored to come work there. And typically when AHS works with new doctors coming in and sort of sponsoring them coming in, doctors will look at a bunch of different areas and choose which one they wish to work in."