(Quebec) Even if Quebec manages to reduce the list of patients waiting for an operation for more than a year, the increase in new requests is weighing down Christian Dubé’s balance sheet. Overall, the waiting list increased by 5,000 names in August, a period marked by the holidays.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) publishes an update of surgical waiting lists on Tuesday on Minister Christian Dubé’s dashboard. As of August 12, some 158,427 patients were waiting to go under the knife in Quebec. One month later (September 9), there are some 163,463 people on the waiting lists, according to figures from Quebec.
Positive point, progress continues for operations waiting for more than a year which are in the sights of the Minister of Health. Christian Dubé has deployed a catch-up plan in collaboration with the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec (FMSQ) to tackle the list of patients who have been waiting for more than 12 months to be operated on. In one month, this list decreased by 346 names.
This confirms a downward trend since the last year. Indeed, in September 2022, this list included no less than 22,000 patients and includes some 14,000 at the last report. Quebec aims to return to a pre-pandemic level, which was around 2,500, “no later than” December 31, 2024. An interim target of 7,600 has been set for March 31, 2024.
The number of oncological surgeries (waiting more than 56 days) is also decreasing, falling from 892 to 755 from August to September.
Patients waiting more than a year
- September 2022: 22,197
- September 2023: 14,296 (-346 since August 12, 2023)
Patients waiting for an operation
- September 2022: 161,175
- September 2023: 163,463 (+5036 since August 12, 2023)
Source: MSSS
General assessment on the rise
The fact remains that despite this progress, the general balance sheet remains on the rise. It is in terms of new requests for operations where the increase is most marked. Operations waiting for 0 to 6 months jumped by 4,706 cases from August to September, going from 110,283 to 114,989. The increase, more moderate, was also recorded among operations waiting for 6 to 12 months (33 502 to 34,178, August to September).
Which means that, on net, the balance sheet is increasing with more than 163,463 operations pending in Quebec. This is an increase of 5,036 from August 12 to September 9.
The activity rate in operating theaters is 74% on average in Quebec hospitals.
The number of operations carried out also tends to approach pre-pandemic volumes. Indeed, the annual cumulative total currently reaches 177,889 operations carried out. This is the highest volume since 2020 for the same period.