More than 27,000 people waiting - FOIPOP responses show full extent of surgery wait times

Halifax - New data released today by the NDP Caucus from two Freedom of Information requests shows the full extent of the backlog for surgeries in Nova Scotia. More than 27,000 people have completed their consults and are waiting for a surgery date. This represents about 2.7 per cent of the total population. Tens of thousands more people are waiting for their initial consultation.

“More than 27,000 people are waiting for surgery and we haven’t yet seen a plan from this government to fix the surgery backlog. Many people are struggling through their days in pain, waiting for the call from the hospital.” said Susan Leblanc, NDP Health and Wellness spokesperson. “The Premier promised a plan to fix health care by March 31. That’s ten days from now, where is the plan?”

Wait times for many surgical specialties are up compared to pre-pandemic levels. The longest waits are in orthopaedics, ophthalmology, and otolaryngology (ENT). For orthopaedic surgery in the Central Zone, people can expect to wait up to 355 days for a consultation, and up to an additional 560 days to get the surgery - that's two and a half years. For access to ENT surgeries in the Central zone people can expect to wait up to 212 days for a consultation and up to 406 additional days for their surgery.

Justin MacDonald has been waiting since 2018 to get knee surgery. He was originally injured in Alberta and had his case transferred to Nova Scotia, as he had to leave his previous job due to the injury and he wanted to recover at home. For two years, he didn’t hear anything. Then in February 2020 he had a first consultation. The result was the need for a further consultation with a different doctor. Then the pandemic hit, and he hasn’t heard anything since. It’s been almost four years since his injury.

“As a result of my injury I had to leave my job and retrain for a new career. I am also unable to take part in many activities I used to enjoy, like sports,” said MacDonald. “It’s been almost four years, and to be honest, I’ve almost given up hope that the surgery will ever happen. I’ve had to adjust my life to deal with this lack of medical attention.”

The data released today includes data that has not been publicly available, including wait times by specialty and region comparing Oct-Dec 2019 and Oct-Dec 2021, and the actual number of people waiting in each region by month for the last five years.

The wait list is worse in the Northern zone which is up almost 50 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels, and the Eastern Zone, which is up about 30 per cent. The Central zone is up about 8 per cent. The wait list in Western zone is largely stable.

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