By Greg Fry

Kamloops Health Coalition applauds Victoria’s promise to reduce surgical wait times

Mar 21, 2018 | 3:26 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops Health Coalition has given the provincial government a glowing endorsement following its announcement Wednesday of plans to address long wait lists for hip and knee replacement in B.C.

Premier John Horgan announced a $75 million investment this year, increasing up to $100 million in 2019-20 to address the issue. The province says it will allow for an extra 4,000 people to have surgeries in the coming year.

“Well, we are really excited about it. You know the wait times have been a year or two and now they’re going to be reduced to 26 weeks by some time next year,” said Kamloops Health Coalition Co-Chair Rick Turner. “That, to us, is extremely exciting. So, that’ll help reduce wait times tremendously and give people freedom from pain and allow them to resume the lifestyles they like.”

He says another thing they’re really excited about is Victoria’s promise of more efficient management of surgical programs and operating rooms.

“They’re going to expand the time in operating rooms by extending the hours. There’s going to be more hours in the summer. They’re going to be using much more of the integrated approach so folks who might benefit from having a treatment other than surgery will be taken off the surgical list and then that would reduce the number of people who require surgery.”

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The Kamloops Health Coalition is part of the BC Health Coalition and is a coalition of tens of thousands of people across B.C. made up of community organizations and unions with an aim of improving the public health care system.