Newfoundland and Labrador Makes Significant Reductions in Wait Times

In 2012, Newfoundland and Labrador’s reduction of wait times in the five priority areas ranked second in the country in a report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Results from July to September 2012 showed that on average 89 per cent of the province’s residents are receiving timely access to radiation treatment, cardiac bypass surgery, cataracts, hip and knee replacement, and hip fracture repair. The national target is 90 per cent.

“We continue to prove our commitment to reducing wait times throughout the province, most recently we invested $5 million in Budget 2012 to further enhance access to health care services,” said the Honourable Susan Sullivan, Minister of Health and Community Services. “These investments are certainly paying off. We are also seeing progress as a result of two five-year provincial strategies released earlier this year that focus on reducing wait times in emergency departments and for hip and knee joint replacement surgery.”

As a result of the hip and knee joint replacement strategy, the Provincial Government made funding available through Budget 2012 to complete an additional 60 hip and knee joint replacement surgeries. Wait times for hip and knee joint replacement surgeries have since steadily improved. The most recent results for the second quarter of 2012 show that 85 per cent of hip replacements and 81 per cent of knee replacements were completed within the national benchmark of 182 days. This represents a 20 per cent increase from 62 per cent of knee replacements completed in the same quarter in 2011.

“Our government has invested more than $140 million over the past eight years to improve wait times throughout the province,” said Minister Sullivan. “The findings of this report have demonstrated that this significant investment has enhanced access to health care services for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.”

The Canadian Institute for Health Information’s recent report titled Health Care in Canada, 2012: A Focus on Wait Times highlighted that 87 per cent of patients received hip fracture surgery within the 48-hour benchmark in our province; the highest in the country. The report also shows that Newfoundland and Labrador outperformed all other provinces by increasing the number of selected surgeries completed in the benchmark and all other areas since 2004.

In April 2012, the fifth MRI unit in the province began operating at St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital in St. John’s. As a result, MRI wait times have seen a major reduction this past year, with waits for non-urgent MRI exams ranging from 14 to 75 days in November 2012, down from 21 to 262 days in January 2012. Waits for non-urgent CT exams have also decreased ranging from one to 44 days, down from one to 95 days in January 2012.

The province is working to expand wait time reporting beyond the national benchmarks and began reporting wait times for bladder, breast, colorectal, lung and prostate cancer surgery on its wait time website in September 2012. The Provincial Government has also invested $1.8 million to establish the new Access and Clinical Efficiency Division within the Department of Health and Community Services to focus on wait time improvement strategies for the province.

- 30 -

Media contact:
Jennifer Tulk
Director of Communications
Department of Health and
Community Services
709-729-1377, 699-6524
jennifertulk@gov.nl.ca 

2012 12 24                                 9:55 a.m.