'All hands on deck': Task force to release new tool measuring Manitoba's surgical, diagnostic backlog
A provincial task force is teaming up with Doctors Manitoba to release a new tool that will help Manitobans monitor the pandemic backlog of surgeries and diagnostic tests.
On Wednesday, Dr. Peter MacDonald, chair of Manitoba's Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force steering committee, said the task force has been working with Doctors Manitoba to develop a new online dashboard that will report surgical and diagnostic wait times.
"This will give Manitobans a broad view of the work that we are doing, where we have made progress and where we still have improvements to make," MacDonald said.
Dr. Kristjan Thompson, past president and board chair of Doctors Manitoba, said for months the organization has been reporting estimated backlog numbers separate from the task force, but said they are now looking forward to joining forces.
"It is an all hands on deck approach. We are all working together to clear this massive backlog," Thompson said.
He said most recent estimates show the backlog is somewhere between 102,000 to 128,000 cases, including between 32,000 and 40,000 surgeries, 12,000 to 17,000 diagnostic imaging tests, and 58,000 to 72,000 other procedures.
"This is still a very significant number," he said, adding Doctors Manitoba has also made a concerning discovery in wait times.
"We found that for nearly all procedures, patients are waiting longer today than they did before the pandemic, so we need to do better."
He said things are moving in the right direction, but there is still lots of work that needs to be done to catch up.
"Once we catch up, we really need to review and evaluate the need for testing and surgeries within this province every year, to ensure that our health system is increasing capacity to meet this growing need," he said.
David Matear, the provincial executive director of the Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force, said the online dashboard has been in development since May and is expected to be released in July. He said the information in the dashboard will be updated monthly.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.