Amber Nurse has been battling a bad knee for two years, hoping to have surgery this spring.
So she was devastated to find that she was now on a two-year waiting list for an operation in Prince George, in the north of BC.
“This is enough. I have to finish it, “she said. – I’m disappointed.
Everyday tasks and hobbies become more painful with each passing day, says a resident of Fort St. John and an educational assistant.
“We are just left here and stuck in pain, with nothing we can do.”
Amber Nurse, an educational assistant at Fort St. John, British Columbia, says she has been placed on a two-year waiting list for knee surgery. (Amber Nurse)
She ‘s a nurse among 8315 patients pending knee surgery in BC as of March 31, 2022, according to provincial data. This prompted orthopedic surgeons to issue a warning about what they described as a “surgical crisis” exacerbated by a shortage of staff and a lack of capacity in hospitals.
“These patients are losing their jobs. These patients are becoming addicted to drugs, these patients are living in pain, they are getting depressed and they are the ones who are carrying the burden of this problem,” said Dr. Cassandra Lane Diluart, president elected by the Orthopedic Association. of British Columbia.
According to the data, the operations lagging behind during the pandemic include elective or non-urgent total hip and knee prostheses.
“Orthopedics is affected by disproportionately high closures compared to all other surgical specialties,” Dilworth wrote in a letter to British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix in March.
For example, 158 people are waiting for skull surgery, 417 are waiting for open heart surgery, and 4389 are waiting for a hip replacement, according to provincial data.
Dielwart adds that the regions with the longest waiting times are Prince George, Kamloops and the Lower Continent.
Patients frustrated as cancellations increase
At the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, southern British Columbia, waiting lists for orthopedic surgery have increased by 40 to 50 percent in the past two years, according to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Hughes.
He says the cancellation remains a daily conversation with patients who come with the idea that they will be operated on only to realize that there are not enough staff.
“It’s almost festive if we managed to spend a whole day without canceling,” he said.
Dix recently told reporters that the provincial government is working to increase the capacity of the surgery by opening new operating rooms.
For example, two private surgical facilities in Vancouver, View Royal Surgical Center in Victoria and Seafield Surgical Center in Nanaimo, will become part of the public health system as BC leases and buys equipment, the health ministry said last Thursday. The deal is expected to be final in the coming months at a cost of $ 11.5 million for both locations, according to a statement from the department.
Part of the process of changing knee surgery is depicted in this photo. In British Columbia, 8,315 patients are waiting for knee surgery, according to provincial data as of March 31, 2022 (Vincent Bonnay / Radio-Canada)
Buck Shannon, a 71-year-old Lillooet resident, says his knee change was canceled twice just days before his Kamloops operation.
He is also waiting for a shoulder replacement, which was supposed to happen six months ago, he said.
“I was shot. I was stabbed while serving in Vietnam. “Nothing can compare to what I’m going through in my left shoulder right now,” he said.
“It makes me feel like a senior citizen that we are worthless.”
Shortage of beds, hospital staff
One of the reasons for the backlog is that the interior and the north have fewer health facilities, says Dr. Dave Nelson, an orthopedic surgeon at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia in Prince George.
Many surgeons have to fight for the same limited operating space, and more beds are needed to accommodate more patients, he said.
In Kamloops, where capacity is a chronic problem, according to Dr. Hughes, pandemics, forest fires and floods have exacerbated the problem.
The shortage of staff also poses challenges, he said.
Deeper changes are needed, says the political expert
Andrew Longhurst, a health policy researcher and PhD student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver Metro, says deeper changes are needed – especially as COVID-19 continues to affect hospital capacity.
He suggested that doctors refer patients to a group of surgeons rather than individual surgeons to increase efficiency.
“Currently, many primary care providers only have the option of referring a patient to a single surgeon,” he said.
If patients were referred to a group of surgeons, the first surgeon available with the shortest waiting list could pick up the patient instead of postponing the operation, Longhurst explains.
He also suggested that physiotherapists and occupational therapists from the provincial fund help reduce pain for patients waiting for surgery.
Meanwhile, Amber’s sister says she will continue to talk about how the system is failing her.
“I will keep talking to anyone who wants to listen, and I will try to change that,” she said.
“Either I’ll be blacklisted or I’ll get the help I need.”
Add Comment