Timely Access to Orthopaedic Healthcare - a right for all Canadians

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VICTORIA, June 12, 2017 /CNW/ - Our country's beloved and beleaguered universal healthcare system was created over 50 years ago. At that time, only 10% of the population was 65 or older.  By 2030, this age group will make up 25% of the population.  This is also the group that requires the most orthopaedic care – to relieve pain and restore mobility impaired by degenerative conditions. Sadly, our healthcare system at the national, provincial and regional levels has not kept pace with the demand, and our patients do not have timely access to the care they need.

Video: Unemployed surgeons and long wait times

Video: Orthopaedic surgeons working to reduce wait times

The BC Orthopaedic Association calls on our national and provincial governments – our partners in healthcare -- to help us provide immediate care for all urgent orthopaedic problems and appropriate care within 90 days for all other non-emergency orthopaedic problems.

In our province right now, many innovative approaches and new programs already underway offer solutions to the issues we face in providing the best and most timely care. We have gathered solid data that supports these new initiatives and are happy to share both the quantitative and qualitative research we have done to date.

Orthopaedic healthcare teams need the financial and management resources to deliver the best and most affordable care possible. Centralized, multi-disciplinary in-take clinics have been identified as one of the ways to streamline and speed up the assessment and treatment of orthopaedic issues for most patients. But these innovative models need sufficient hospital resources to make sure all orthopaedic patients can get timely surgical solutions when needed.  There are also human resource issues we must all tackle to get the system working optimally.

BC orthopaedic surgeons have created a library of videos detailing their experiences with our healthcare system and what excessive wait times for consultations and surgeries have meant to the well-being of their patients. Click here for the videos.

Call to Action:

To add your voice to the conversation about timely access to care, email the BC Minister of Health at [email protected] or the Federal Minister of Health at [email protected].

SOURCE BC Orthopaedic Association

For more about timely access to healthcare, see www.bcoa.ca, 250-881-2262