Latest news with #waitlist
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Media attention, political pressure credited with solving cardiac surgery waitlist at Waikato Hospital
A doctor works on a patient in a surgery. Photo: UnSplash/ JC Gellidon Media attention and political pressure have been credited with solving the eight-week cardiac surgery waitlist at Waikato Hospital. Cardiac Society of New Zealand chairperson Dr Martin Stiles said the cardiac waiting list peaked last year at 110 patients but had now reduced to only 10. "What that has meant for us is that we are able to get through the patients much more quickly, and the patients are waiting a much shorter time." Stiles - who was a cardiologist at Waikato Hospital but spoke in his role as chairperson - said the situation changed after 71-year-old Norm Davies went public with his story in September 2024. Davies had waited in hospital for more than a month for cardiac surgery and had been told to expect at least another three-week wait. "It was really frustrating at the time, because what we were telling patients was, 'yes you do need an operation but no we can't do it this week, or next week, or even the week after'," Stiles said. Cardiac Society of New Zealand chairperson Dr Martin Stiles. Photo: Supplied: Martin Stiles He said after the RNZ stories, senior management began to focus on the issue and political pressure was put on resolving the situation. "There was visibility at the top of the organisation, where previously there really wasn't." One of the problems was that up to 20 percent of planned operations were being cancelled because it wasn't clear that there would be a recovery bed available. "Now [surgeons] get on with the operation and ICU are committed to finding them a bed, and they are able to just get through the list just much more quickly." Stiles said he was aware of cardiac waitlist issues in other areas of the country, especially in major centres. "What I'd say to Auckland and Wellington is that with engagement from very senior management and perhaps some political pressure from the Ministry, these things can be turned around." However, Stiles said Waikato Hospital continued to generally be under enormous pressure. He hoped that when similar problems are raised, they would get a similar level of priority and solutions from the highest levels. "And I say when, not if." Stiles had concerns about outsourcing surgeries to private hospitals being used as a long-term solution. At present, Waikato cardiac patients are not having their surgeries outsourced because capacity within Waikato Hospital had been created. "When I heard that there were these ideas to have 10-year contracts with private hospitals for surgical waitlists I thought, well that may be useful for the private hospitals but what the public hospitals really need is ability to turn the tap on and turn the tap off in private." He said the risk became that public money would be used to build up private hospitals. "I work in private, it's good, but I would much rather see public money go into a public hospital, I don't want to see public money propping up overseas pension funds who own private hospitals." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
CTV News
13-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Just over 50 people taken off Nova Scotia's primary care wait list in May
This image shows a close up of a stethoscope. (Credit: Pexels) Nova Scotia's primary care waitlist went down by just a few dozen people last month. There were 91,423 people on the Need a Family Practice Registry as of June 1, according to Nova Scotia Health. The health authority says 51 people in total were attached to a provider or removed as a result of ongoing validation work that confirmed they have a health-care provider. Last month, there were 91,474 Nova Scotians on the waitlist. The percentage of the province's population on the registry is now down to 8.6 per cent. Nova Scotia Health says it will update the registry again in early July. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CBC
12-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Auditor general's assessment of public housing 'no surprise' for minister
Social Sharing Housing Minister David Hickey said his department isn't surprised the auditor general found "significant deficiencies" with public housing. "This report is no surprise to anyone around my table. It is no surprise to me. We knew the state of public housing and we knew that it was in crisis. We knew it when we came into government," said Hickey. The auditor general's report, which was released this week, found delays in repairs and incomplete inspections, which left units vacant and more people on the waitlist. During the review period from April 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2024, there was a list of 13,129 households waiting to get into one of the province's 4,630 public housing units. "We are in the midst of an infrastructure crisis with the amount of public housing we have," Hickey said, adding that the issue is a "significant priority" for him. The average wait to turn around vacant units to new occupants was 140 days, and three per cent took more than a year. The target is 30 days, yet only four per cent of units hit that target. Hickey said maintenance teams are "massively overwhelmed with the amount of units they need to support." The department plans to hire an additional 15 people, including six new inspectors. Hickey said the New Brunswick Housing Corporation will get a budget increase of 18.6 per cent. Adam Bowie, a spokesperson for the New Brunswick Housing Corporation, said the increase is $36.6 million but $21.1 million will be used for the expansion of the province's direct-to-tenant rental benefit, which was announced last month. Hickey said his department will receive a $7.8-million increase for maintenance and capital improvements. The auditor general's report said mitigation work for issues like pests, mould and fire safety were completed on time only 36 per cent of the time, and that annual interior inspection requirements were not met in 85 per cent of regions with four not conducting any annual inspections. Hickey couldn't say whether any units should be closed, but that "it's not much to be proud of." Housing expert also not surprised Julia Woodhall-Melnik isn't surprised by the auditor general's report either. "We're constantly receiving emails and calls from folks who are living in public housing, who are living with things like pests, mould, uninhabitable conditions that can make themselves sick, their children sick," said Woodhall-Melnik, an associate professor in social sciences at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John and the co-director of the Housing, Mobilization, Engagement and Resiliency Lab. Her social science lab studies housing insecurity and social inclusion to share their findings with the public and all levels of government. The lab is currently going through their findings of people's well-being while living in public housing. Woodhall-Melnik said one problem is that those living in public housing are not covered by the Residential Tenancies Act. "With the province not being held to account by the Residential Tenancies Act. Really, they are invisible, they are forgotten." She is recommending that Hickey's department creates a "system of accountability" to make sure their goals are met. Both Hickey and Woodhall-Melnik agree that the breakdown in New Brunswick public housing began in the '90s. That was when the federal government handed the responsibility over to the province and funding dried up. "A commitment of around $2 million a year in operational funding to support the maintenance of 4,600 units — it doesn't go very far and it's led us into the situation where we are now," said Hickey. Solutions from Hickey The report also found the budget was "not available to spending approvers" and that a financial plan was not established, assessed or monitored. Hickey said he wants to be "as transparent as possible" going forward and be clear about where money is being spent and what the outcome is. He said he'd also like to work with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to utilize the equity in public housing — approximately $400 million.
ABC News
10-06-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Thousands on NSW elective surgery waitlists longer than recommended, data shows
Elective surgery waitlists in New South Wales have blown out, with a major increase in the number of overdue operations. The Bureau of Health Information (BHI) released its latest quarterly report for January-March 2025 which revealed 8,587 people waited longer for their surgery than clinically recommended. That is a rise of 151.3 per cent, or 5,170 patients, compared with the same period in 2024. "[That's] quite a substantial increase from the same time a year ago," BHI senior director Hilary Rowell said. Some of the patients who faced delays had been referred for the most urgent surgery, classified as category one, which is meant to be completed within 30 days. "There were five patients in the urgent category who were overdue for their surgery," Ms Rowell said. The report also revealed 3,464 people waited longer than recommended for their semi-urgent surgery which is meant to be completed within 90 days. Among those who were ready to undergo non-urgent operations — due to be done within one year — 5,118 were overdue for their surgery. The majority of NSW's local health districts (LHDs) reported an increase in the number of surgical patients waiting longer than clinically recommended. South Eastern Sydney LHD recorded the highest rise, with 1,657 people facing delays — an increase of 1,338 on the same period in 2024. Western Sydney LHD reported an increase of 1,023 — resulting in 1,350 people waiting longer than they should. Sydney Children's Hospital Network had 253 overdue surgeries, which is a rise of 164. The Hunter New England LHD experienced the biggest hike amongst regional LHDs, with 1,249 waiting longer than they should — an increase of 720. Nepean Blue Mountains LHD was the only health service which saw a decrease. There were 188 people waiting for their overdue operations at the end of the quarter — a decline of 230 from 418 in the January-March quarter of 2024. The report came after surgeons at Orange Health Service (OHS) revealed they had been asked to reduce the urgency category of cancer operations so they do not breach waitlist targets. The Western NSW LHD rejected the claims. The latest figures show 38 people waited longer at OHS than they should during the latest quarter which is an increase of 38 on the same period last year. The BHI report showed that almost 53,000 surgeries were performed during the quarter, up 3.6 per cent. Despite this increase, there were 100,678 people still on the waitlist at the end of the quarter — a rise of 7.3 per cent. This is just below the record peak of 101,024 reported during the COVID pandemic. "We saw the list gradually decrease down to the end of 2023 and then we've seen it gradually ticking up since then," Ms Rowell said. Australian Medical Association NSW vice president Fred Betros said extra resources were added to clear the backlog of patients waiting longer than the maximum time clinically recommended after the pandemic, including sending patients to the private sector. The number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended fell to 1,857 patients in the second quarter of last year. "The problem is our increased commitment of resources is being exceeded by the rate of growth," he said. Dr Betros said many specialists are working in the private sector where they can earn more money. "One of the perpetual problems we have right now in the public sector is certainly for elective surgery, is lack of anaesthetists who are willing to work in the public sector," he said. NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the government was investing $23 million to reduce overdue surgeries as part of the 2025-26 budget. The funding would go to engaging more staff, purchasing more consumables, expanding weekend theatre rostering and engaging private providers. He said he expects this investment — combined with $186.4 million for hospital capacity announced in December — will begin to "bear fruit over the next quarter". However, the minister pointed to challenges that contributed to the increase, including ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred that disrupted services in northern NSW and the Mid North Coast alongside a rise in chronic illness, longer life expectancy as well as workforce availability challenges. "We made significant progress in reducing the overdue surgeries that we inherited, down from 14,000. But we know there's always more that we can do to improve the accessibility of planned surgeries," Mr Park said. "The health system is always going to be under pressure, particularly with elective surgery. We have got it down low, we're seeing a creep up now." He previously established a Surgical Care Taskforce to improve the delivery of surgical services and reduce elective waitlists. When it first met in May 2023, Mr Park said he wanted it to "look at measures to reduce the backlog of elective surgeries". The BHI's latest report also presents data on attendances to public hospital emergency departments (ED). Between January and March there were 785,266 people who went to an ED, which is a decline of 3.1 per cent on the same period last year. The BHI said fewer patients with non-urgent conditions were presenting to emergency. "Within that we did see that EDs are continuing to see a reduction in patients with the less urgent clinical conditions, so those are the moderate triage category four patients, down 6 per cent, and the non-urgent triage category five patients which were down 12 per cent," Ms Rowell said.
CTV News
07-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
An Ontario woman waited 5 years to get a surgery. Now she is back on a waitlist after it failed
Karen Harris said she spent years on the surgical waitlist, but when she got the procedure done, it failed. Now she's waiting again. It took about five years for Karen Harris to get the surgery she needed and when she finally did, she says it failed and she was placed back on a waiting list with no indication of when she will be seen again. Harris, a Windsor resident, has a rare condition caused by an elongated styloid process known as Eagle's syndrome. Because of the condition, she says that she can't sit upright for a long time, is forced to wear a neck brace whenever she goes in a car and, at times, needs to use a wheelchair. She spent years on a waiting list for a procedure that doctors told her would finally help relieve her symptoms and improve her qualify of life and finally got the call late last year. Karen Harris But days after undergoing the procedure at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on Dec. 4, she says she hemorrhaged litres of blood and was thrown back onto the surgical waitlist. She said that she has considered going to the U.S. to get the procedure done but would have to put a second mortgage on her home to do so as the operation costs anywhere from US$30,000 to $100,000. Plus, she's afraid of what could happen if she has complications post-operation again. 'I'm losing. It's a losing battle,' she said of the frustrating wait for care. 'I'm just in this limbo again and it's just horrific.' Harris is just one of more than 200,000 Ontarians that are believed to be waiting for a surgical procedure. Nationally, the Fraser Institute estimates that approximately 1.5 million people are waiting for some sort of procedure. It says that the proportion of the population on a waiting list varies from a low of three per cent in Ontario to nearly eight per cent in Prince Edward Island. Harris told CTV News Toronto that her experience is particularly frustrating because it feels like 'a systemic issue.' 'There's just no pathway forward for a lot of patients like me, with chronic health conditions, or people waiting for surgery,' she said. 'We have amazing, worldclass doctors and hospitals a couple hours away from Windsor but it's just these silos—these healthcare silos—are just really making it impossible for people like me to get care.' Both Mount Sinai Hospital and Windsor Regional Hospital wouldn't comment directly on Harris's case. 'We know that any delay in care is stressful to our patients and their families,' a statement from Mount Sinai reads. The Toronto hospital adds there are 'many factors' that come into play with regards to their surgical waitlist and when surgeries are scheduled, but they did not elaborate further on what those factors are. 'Our surgical teams work to ensure timely access to care, balancing the needs of all the patients we serve.' Harris has been on long-term disability since 2019 For years Harris, 37, enjoyed her life to the fullest, working her dream job at a nutraceuticals company in Windsor. Harris says she has had underlying aches and pains before but dismissed her concerns as she'd chalk it up to the growing pains of being a mother to two, now-teenage, daughters. It was one day when she was making her way to the office that her aches and pains 'all of a sudden' hit her, causing her to go completely out of breath from just walking in the parking lot. 'My heart rate was just not slowing down, I was getting really dizzy,' Harris recounted in an interview with CTV News Toronto. Though she had a high heart rate already due to her POTS syndrome—an autonomic nervous system disorder—imaging she had taken after this episode revealed she also has Eagle's syndrome. 'It's where I say it's like chicken bones, like they are extended multiple centimetres from the base of my skull, pressing into the sides of my throat,' Harris said. 'I've choked, I've aspirated fluids, I have hearing issues, facial pain—the list just goes on, and on, and on, and on." Eagle's syndrome An image of the elongated styloid processes. Harris has been on long-term disability ever since her diagnosis, starting in 2019. In 2020, she said she got a referral to surgeon in Toronto who could help her. At first it was an in-person appointment that May, which was switched to a phone call in June 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. By January 2021, she says she finally got to see the surgeon in person, who then approved her for surgery. Harris recounts being told she was put on a high-priority waitlist and would be seen in either a couple of weeks or months. She adds she was told she would need to isolate while she waited for surgery, as her surgeon specialized in head and neck cancer surgeries and could not risk falling ill. So, Harris isolated. She said she didn't leave her house and didn't have anyone come over for a visit, because she didn't want to ruin her chance of getting surgery. Her daughters even transferred to online schooling, the mother adds. 'I missed everything for weeks and weeks, years and years,' Harris said. At the start she says the communication between her and health-care staff was 'pretty amazing,' but as time carried on, the quick responses apologizing for the wait turned to requests to stop calling for updates. 'It was just really demotivating,' Harris said. 'All I'm doing is filling up an inbox or a voicemail inbox that's probably overflowing (…) like I'm just adding more burden into the healthcare system.' By 2024, she finally got the call with the surgery date. But after the procedure happened, Harris recalled waking up to hear the procedure became 'too risky.' 'He said he kind of pushed (the bone) to the side (but) he couldn't remove it because it was too close to my carotid artery and cranial facial nerves, and it was just too risky to remove from that approach,' Harris said, adding she was told the bone was left in her neck. 'I never heard of that happening before.' 'It wasn't even about the pain anymore' She returned home to Windsor after a couple of days, to ensure she'd be well enough. But Harris says five or six days later after the operation, she started coughing up blood. Harris says she immediately called the paramedics because she couldn't tell if the blood was coming from her surgical site or from her stomach, and they swiftly brought her to the emergency room. But says she waited hours on the gurney, 'throwing up a litre of blood,' while she waited to be admitted to a room. 'Staff was walking by me and everyone was—healthcare workers are all very empathetic and compassionate, but they're just so severely understaffed,' Harris said. Harris says she spent about three nights at Windsor Regional Hospital, profusely bleeding off-and-on throughout her stay and, at one point, pulling out blood clots 'the size of ping pong balls' from her throat. 'I was covered in blood, just covered. I was so mad. It wasn't even about the pain anymore,' Harris said. She says during her time there, she never met with an appropriate surgeon, adding she was repeatedly told doctors don't want to treat another surgeon's patient after an operation due to liability concerns. So, she was airlifted back to Sinai in Toronto, had CT scans there, and was discharged on Dec. 18. Karen Harris Karen Harris being airlifted to Toronto. Harris says she last saw her surgeon in February this year, where they requested more imaging and confirmed they would carry-on with her surgery again, but this time trying a different approach. She says she still hasn't heard back. Why is there a delay to get a surgery? Ontario's surgical backlog grew to more than 245,000 procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic but has steadily decreased in recent years, as the province has poured millions of dollars into tackling the backlog. That, however, is of little comfort to patients like Harris. Isser Dubinsky, a retired clinical physician who had worked in emergency medicine and previously consulted in the development of the wait-time strategy in Ontario, said there's a variety of factors that come into play while waiting for a procedure. 'There's the wait-time to see your family doctor who has to come up with a diagnosis that requires surgery, there's the wait-time from when the family doctor sees or can arrange a referral to a surgeon, and then there's a wait-time from when after that patient sees the surgeon until they get access to surgical care,' Dubinsky said, adding each step is 'integral' to the problem. Outside of a shortage of family doctors, Dubinsky says they're not providing the same number of in-person office hours as they had before the pandemic with several patients being met online, mitigating against their ability of conducting physical exams and potentially leading to 'reasonable skepticism' from the surgeon when they don't have all of the given information they need. 'There's also a huge amount of fractionation of family medicine,' Dubinsky adds, as some family doctors don't fit the traditional role of what a family physician is. 'There are family doctors who only practice psychotherapy, there are family doctors who largely practice emergency medicine (…) and so on, so the number of family physicians who are providing what you or I might have thought of as comprehensive primary care is diminished.' Then when it comes to getting from a family physician to a surgeon, Dubinsky says surgeons will want to know what the patient's imaging has shown, which means various tests need to be arranged before a specialist will see them. Once tests have been completed and a patient is off to see a surgeon, Dubinsky says they follow clear guidelines for what an appropriate time is to wait for a procedure to be done—which is gauged on a patient's symptoms and physical findings. Dubinsky also says time is wasted in the operating rooms, which can stem from a doctor showing up just 15 minutes late. 'Let me give you the arithmetic example of your average community-sized hospital in Ontario that has six operating rooms functioning. If each of those six operating rooms starts 10 minutes late every day, that's an hour of time that's wasted every day, that's five hours a week, that's 260 hours a year. That's enough time to do 100 hip or knee replacements,' Dubinsky said, adding on top of that, surgeons have allocated operating room time, which can vary per doctor. A spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of Health says the province has 'some of the shortest wait times' across Canada, with nearly 80 per cent of people receiving their procedure in the clinically recommended amount of time.
