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Health and Community Services
March 4, 2011

Progress Continues in Addressing Wait Times for Health Care Services

The Provincial Government continues to make progress in addressing wait times for health care services. The Honourable Jerome Kennedy, Minister of Health and Community Services, was joined by Vickie Kaminski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eastern Health, to announce several new initiatives and provide an update on the progress being made throughout the province on wait times.

“Reducing wait times is a top priority for our government,” said Minister Kennedy. “The measures being undertaken will go a significant way in achieving this result. Some new initiatives being announced today include improving access to acute care beds in St. John’s, the establishment of a central assessment clinic for select orthopedic surgeries, implementation of a provincial strategy for endoscopy services, reducing the wait list for cochlear implant surgery, and the hiring of an external wait time consultant.”

Other initiatives highlighted today include the implementation of recommendations arising from a patient flow study completed at Eastern Health; a review of the surgical waitlist at Eastern Health; and, implementing strategies to reduce wait times for diagnostic imaging.

“We welcome these announcements today by the Provincial Government that demonstrates the continued commitment to this important area of health care delivery,” said Ms. Kaminski. “Addressing the issue of wait times and the timely access to healthcare services is a priority for Eastern Health. With the investments from the province, we will continue to work diligently and innovatively in our efforts to reduce wait times for the people of our province.”

The following are the new and ongoing initiatives aimed at reducing wait times in the province:

Opening up Acute Care Beds
In an effort to free up acute care beds occupied by medically discharged patients, the Provincial Government has reached an agreement with Chancellor Park, a private long-term care facility in St. John’s, to provide care for an additional 40 residents, some of whom are occupying acute care beds in Eastern Health hospitals. Through an investment of $3.1 million, the single entry wait list for long term care placement in St. John’s will be reduced and acute care beds occupied by medically discharged patients will be made available. These beds can then be used to meet the needs of patients on wait lists for surgery or for in-hospital care, including patients in emergency departments requiring admission.

Central Assessment Clinic for Select Orthopedic Surgeries
While the province has met national wait time benchmark areas in most of the five areas being reported, there has been a longer than acceptable wait time reported for hip and knee replacement surgeries in St. John’s. To help address this, approximately $600,000 will be invested over two years to support the establishment of a central assessment clinic for patients awaiting hip and knee replacement in St. John’s. These patients will now be triaged into three different groups: ready for surgery; needing additional services, such as pre-surgery physiotherapy or weight reduction; or, needing specialized medical care prior to surgery.

“This innovative approach will enhance the management of patients who do not require surgery, better prepare patients physically and psychologically for surgery and reduce the number of surgical cancellations,” said Minister Kennedy. “I commend the orthopedic surgeons and other health care professionals for participating and supporting this initiative and look forward to working with them on this pilot project.”

Provincial Strategy for Endoscopy Services
In Budget 2010, the Provincial Government announced $240,000 to start a new Provincial Colorectal Cancer Screening Program, part of a $4.3 million commitment over three years. An additional $190,000 was also invested to develop a provincial wait time strategy for endoscopy services. The strategy included a review of the current capacity within the system and its ability to meet the demands that the new Colorectal Cancer Screening program will generate.

One critical observation arising from the review was the high number of “no shows” or patients who did not attend their scheduled endoscopy appointment.

“A striking finding from the review was that 850 people did not show for their endoscopy appointments over a six-month period,” said Minister Kennedy. “Information such as this will allow the development and implementation of provincial policies to improve wait times for endoscopy services in the province. In order for the policies to be effective, the public must be engaged as we all know that it is the responsibility of the patient to show up for their scheduled appointments.”

Cochlear Implant Services
Through a one-time Provincial Government investment of $432,000, Eastern Health will be able to provide cochlear implants for an additional 16 patients in the province who are currently on a waitlist. A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing.

Hiring of Wait Time Consultant
The department has hired an external wait time consultant, Dr. Peter Glynn, to work with departmental staff and to provide expert advice, guidance and direction on provincial wait time management strategies and policy development. These services will begin in April 2011 and will be provincial in scope. Dr. Glynn has provided consultative services to a number of other provinces on wait time issues.

Patient Flow Study
In March 2009, the Provincial Government provided $500,000 to Eastern Health to commission a patient flow study to help identify areas of improvement in the care received by patients as they move through the hospital system. The study contained 930 recommendations. While implementation of these recommendations will take dedicated time and resources, as of January 2011, 266 of the recommendations were completed and activities to implement an additional 222 are underway.

Results have already been seen, including a 32 per cent reduction in the number of cancellations for cardiac surgery, decreased patient transfer times and the opening of a new four-bed chronic ventilator unit at Hoyles Escasoni making intensive care beds available.

Validation of Surgical Waitlist at Eastern Health
In the spring of 2010, the Provincial Government invested $80,000 for Eastern Health to review and validate its adult surgical wait list. Between July and December 2010, approximately 3,410 patients were contacted to determine whether they remain on the waitlist for elective surgery. Approximately 860 of the patients contacted requested to be removed from the waitlist because they already had surgery, changed their mind, or felt they no longer needed surgery. Eastern Health is waiting confirmation from other patients to determine whether more will be removed from the list.

“Updating and monitoring our waitlists are essential to ensure that we have an accurate picture of our wait times and the number of people still requiring services,” said Ms. Kaminski. “Putting in place a continuous process of review will help us identify the service demands, as well as allow us to plan our services more efficiently to meet patient needs.”

Implementing Strategies to Reduce Wait Times for Diagnostic Imaging
In recent years, the Provincial Government has invested significant resources to increase diagnostic imaging capacity in the province. However, data over a three-month period showed that there were more than 3,000 missed diagnostic imaging exams in the city hospitals, including 245 appointments for MRI procedures. This has resulted in increased wait times as the majority of the patients needed to be rescheduled. The Provincial Government will address these concerns with the four regional health authorities as it moves forward on strategies to address wait times.

Wait Time Benchmarks
In December 2005, national wait time benchmarks were established in five priority areas: radiation therapy, coronary bypass surgery, hip and knee replacements, hip fracture repair, cataract surgery, and diagnostics.

The latest data for Newfoundland and Labrador indicates that the province continues to perform well in meeting most of the benchmarks. In December 2010, the Department of Health and Community Services launched a new section of its website which provides regular updates on wait time information to help patients, families, and health care professionals make informed choices regarding access to care. The most recent update can be found at www.gov.nl.ca/health/wait_times/ 

In addition to the initiatives highlighted today by Minister Kennedy, Budget 2010: The Right Investments – For Our Children and Our Future provided a total of $2.7 billion for health care in the province. Included in this was $3.86 million to enhance existing health services and $52.2 million for new medical equipment to improve access to services and reduce wait times. Examples include a new MRI machine (St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital), a CT scanner (Labrador City), multiple ultrasound machines, endoscopy equipment (St. Anthony and Gander), and two lap top ventilators (Grand Falls-Windsor).

Approximately $7.5 million has been spent for the redevelopment of operating rooms at the Janeway Hospital, which became operational on March 1, 2011. This redevelopment has created additional capacity at the adult operating rooms at the Health Sciences allowing for two additional adult surgical lists to be completed each day, including four additional joint replacements each week.

“There has been significant progress made in improving wait times throughout our health care system and one area that we will look to improve in the near future is wait times in the province’s emergency departments,” said Minister Kennedy.

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Media contacts:

Tansy Mundon
Director of Communications
Department of Health and Community Services
709-729-1377, 685-2646
tansymundon@gov.nl.ca
Jackie O'Brien
Media Relations Specialist, Strategic Communications
Eastern Health
709-777-1339, 697-0798
Jackie.OBrien@easternhealth.ca

2011 03 04                                                                           10:05 a.m.
 

 
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