More than 9,000 people on wait lists for cataract surgery in Waterloo-Wellington

There are more than 9,000 people on wait lists for cataract surgery at local hospitals.

That's more than half of the 16,000 patients waiting to have their elective surgeries or procedures rescheduled in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County.

Cataract surgery is considered an elective surgery and the procedure was most recently paused in hospitals across the province as the Omicron variant caused COVID-19 case numbers — and hospitalizations due to the virus — to surge.

Doctors and seniors advocates say they're concerned as longer wait times for cataract surgery can seriously impact the health and lifestyles of older people.

"I've had patients who have had struggles with depth perception because of cataracts and have fallen," Dr. Chryssa McAlister, an eye surgeon in Waterloo, told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo. It can limit their ability to drive and take part in leisure activities they love. 

"Golf or watching television or doing needlework, those are really important to patients as they get older," McAlister said. 

McAlister is the co-division head of ophthalmology with the Waterloo Regional Eye Program and a staff ophthalmologist at St. Mary's General Hospital and Grand River Hospital, both in Kitchener.

She says each year thousands of cataract removals are done at St. Mary's General, Cambridge Memorial and Guelph General and even before COVID-19, patients often had to wait to have the surgery done.

Surgeries can now resume

Last week, hospitals in Waterloo-Wellington said nearly 16,000 patients were waiting for surgeries or procedures. Specifically, as of Feb. 8: 

• St. Mary's General Hospital had 5,286 people waiting for cataract surgery.
• Guelph General Hospital had 2,400 people waiting for cataract surgery.
• Cambridge Memorial Hospital had 1,337 people waiting for cataract surgery.

On Feb. 10, Ontario's chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore lifted Directive 2, which allowed more procedures to resume in hospitals. In an email to CBC Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario Health's media relations team said the province is currently at 70 per cent of 2019 surgical volumes.

Lee Fairclough, president of St. Mary's General Hospital, acknowledged patients have expressed frustration with the hospital about having to wait for all the procedures that were put on hold.

But occupancy in hospitals remains high, she said during a regional media briefing on Friday. As of Tuesday, there were 75 people in Waterloo region's three hospitals who were infectious with COVID-19.

"As we do plan that ramp up [of surgeries], it will be a gradual one," she said.

"All of our hospitals in the Waterloo-Wellington area will likely start with day procedures first as our starting point and as we're able to free some of the bed capacity, restart some of those other procedures."

Delay in surgery a 'huge problem'

The delay in cataract surgeries is a concern being heard by Bill VanGorder, chief operating officer of the Canadian Association of Retired People. The group advocates on behalf of older Canadians on matters of health care, pensions, finances and long-term care.

"We're certainly hearing from our current members right across the country and strongly from Ontario that they're very upset about long wait lists," he said.

VanGorder says many of the people he has spoken to bristle at the term "elective surgery" when used to describe procedures like cataract surgery. If people have to wait a year or two to have cataracts removed, he said, they could potentially go blind in one or both eyes.

"Elective sounds like somehow you have some flexibility," he said.

"Not getting that surgery is a huge, huge problem. I personally know that. I had cataract surgery and totally understand the huge difference that it makes to have it and how disabled you are without having the surgery."

Need for surgery on rise with aging population

According to The Canadian Ophthalmology Society, cataract surgeries are the most common surgery performed in Canada, and have been "particularly impacted" by the pandemic.

"Increasing funding for cataract surgeries and increasing access to surgical operating room time would help alleviate the issue," a spokesperson for the society said in an email to CBC News.

McAlister says that if local surgeons could do more procedures, they would.

"Ultimately, what we need is just more access to the operating room so that we can do more [surgeries]. There's no question that the surgeons we have locally would do more surgery if we could through the hospital," she said.

She said even before COVID-19, there was under-resourcing in terms of staffing and that needs to be addressed going forward.

"I think recognizing that with an aging population, more cataract volumes are going to need to be done," McAlister said. "I think the government has to recognize that."

Meanwhile, she says there's been a push locally to offer patients more options for cataract surgery.

St. Mary's General Hospital, for example, partnered with TLC Vision in Waterloo in April 2021 to take on the least complex cataract removals with the hopes of sending between 500 and 1,000 patients to the private clinic.

There is also a centralized referral system for cataract surgery. McAlister says patients can look at a map to see wait times for surgery. Then they can decide to go to a doctor they may be familiar with, but wait longer, or go to another surgeon who has a shorter wait list.

She said patients seem to appreciate having that control, rather than being put on a list for the surgeon with the shortest wait time.