The long wait for a hip or knee replacements in Nova Scotia may be over. According to David Jackson, writing in the Herald News, statistics on the Health Department’s website show that less than half of the patients who had a knee replacement from April 2011 to September 2012 had it done within six months. Fifty percent of patients waited at least seven months. Half of the patients in the most recent three-month period waited at least 267 days, or close to nine months, for their new knees.
The national benchmark waiting period for hip or knee replacements is 182 days. According to Jackson, Nova Scotia has not performed well against the national benchmark since it was established in 2005.The Nova Scotia patients fared better with hip replacements. From April 2011 to September 2012, 54% to 64% of patients got their new hips within six months.
The government is tackling the chronic problem of long waits for knee and hip replacements with an extra $2 million over the next few weeks. Health and Wellness Minister David Wilson said the funding will help an extra 380 people get their operations. The province is targeting those who have been waiting for more than a year.
Wilson indicated that the planned blitz will not clear the year-plus wait list. He said that there were 733 people waiting a year or more for a knee replacement, and 206 waiting for a hip. “We’re going to try to put a dent in it, but we have to continue to work toward addressing those numbers. They’re significant, we recognize that.” He added to Jackson that the extended waits largely come down to money, with scarce resources focused on higher-priority areas like cancer procedures.
