According to Matt Love, the health critic for Saskatchewan’s NDP, the province not only holds the longest wait times for hip and knee surgeries in Canada but also performs poorly compared to other jurisdictions. Love referred to recent data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, which revealed that the median wait time for knee replacements in Saskatchewan last year was 467 days. Manitoba had the second-longest wait time at 336 days, while most other provinces reported wait times ranging from 210 to 284 days. Ontario had the shortest wait times at 117 days.
Love expressed concern about the impact on Saskatchewan residents, emphasizing that these wait times represent real people enduring pain while waiting for procedures that should have been completed months ago. The data also indicated that the median wait time for hip replacements in Saskatchewan last year was 309 days, with Alberta and New Brunswick having the second-longest wait times at 232 days. Ontario once again had the shortest wait times at 108 days.
Although Saskatchewan has made some progress in other surgical areas, Love noted that overall wait times have either remained stagnant or increased over the past five years. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the situation as procedures were postponed during the early stages of the outbreak, and many healthcare professionals left the field or experienced burnout.
The Saskatchewan Party government has responded by hiring more healthcare employees and increasing the number of surgeries planned for this year, including utilizing private clinics. Additionally, the province signed a $6-million agreement in March to send patients to Calgary for hip and knee surgeries to expedite access to care, although patients must cover their travel expenses.
NDP Leader Carla Beck expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of these plans. She suggested that the public system could expand operating room hours and increase collaboration with healthcare professionals to address the issue. Beck emphasized the need for political will to hire more staff and retain existing employees, as they are eager to contribute solutions.