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Saskatchewan's Successful Strategy for Surgical Waitlist Reduction
1Practised as an orthopedic surgeon in Saskatoon for more than 30 years and was part of the surgical representation in the development and implementation of the initial Glynn report and the Western Canada Waiting List Project and subsequent provincial initiatives. He witnessed firsthand Saskatchewan's "rags to riches" surgical wait list journey and appreciated the valuable lessons that Saskatchewan learned, from which other jurisdictions struggling with long surgical waitlists could benefit. He now practises in Victoria, British Columbia.
Abstract:
By 2015, Saskatchewan's surgical wait times, once among Canada's longest, were arguably the nation's shortest. This paper highlights the principal strategies that were implemented to address the exceptionally lengthy surgical wait times in Saskatchewan's SHR. These included the province's funding the establishment of a fair operating room allocation system, a centralized provincial surgery registry, integration of priority scoring tools and creation of the Saskatchewan Surgical Care network. This coordinated backdrop facilitated the integration of Lean principles, hospital service consolidation, private third-party surgical care delivery services and policy direction setting by the provincial government.