Back surgery wait-list called too long

Patients with back and neck problems are waiting too long in pain because of a shortage of operating times in Calgary, says an orthopedic spine surgeon.

While Alberta Health announced an $8-million plan in February to boost the number of surgeries performed in the province, it did not include back and neck procedures, leaving the waiting lists for those operations to backlog, said Dr. Roger Cho

"We've made proposals, and we've talked to various levels of government, but so far we haven't seen any change," he said. "Part of it is budgetary constraints, part of it is that some other areas get highlighted. At this point, spine surgeries isn't one of them."  

Cho says the average wait time for his patients is a year and a half because each orthopedic spine surgeon is only allotted one day per week to operate. "So in fact, some of the surgeries are complicated, and in one day, all we can fit in is one patient."  

Alberta Health's approval of 2,230 additional surgeries and non-surgical procedures was slated to last until the end of March.

Included on that list were urgent cancer surgery, orthopedic surgery (including hip and knee replacements), neurosurgery, heart surgery and cataract surgery. In addition, 3,500 more MRI and CT scans were also funded. 

Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said the province is working on a more long-term solution to all surgery wait times. He also said the department will continue paying for more surgeries until the end of June to temporarily help with the backlog.