Manitobans will be able to see diagnostic, surgical backlog data with online dashboard: task force
Impossible to set end date to eliminate backlog, task force says
The task force charged with addressing the backlog of thousands of diagnostic and surgical procedures in Manitoba says it's working on an online dashboard that will give a monthly report on the wait times.
"This will give Manitobans a broad view of of the work we are doing, where we've made progress and where we'll still have improvements to make," Dr. Peter MacDonald, the chair of the diagnostic and surgical recovery task force steering committee, said at a Wednesday news conference.
The new dashboard will be a collaboration with Doctors Manitoba, which has its own dashboard and has pressed the province to release more data about the backlog of surgical and diagnostic procedures.
The online tool will go live sometime in July and will be updated monthly, said David Matear, the provincial executive director of the task force.
It will provide data on the top eight procedures in the province to start with and will broaden as possible, he said.
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The announcement comes after Doctors Manitoba, which represents physicians in the province, said on Tuesday that between 102,139 and 128,447 procedures are waiting to be performed — a drop from 166,903 in May.
That includes between 31,664 and 39,674 surgeries, 12,346 to 17,039 diagnostic imaging tests, and 58,129 to 71,734 other procedures, including allergy tests, mammograms and chronic pain assessments, the advocacy organization said.
For the first time, former president of Doctors Manitoba and current board chair Kristjan Thompson joined the provincial task force on Wednesday to deliver the backlog update announcement.
Thompson says Doctors Manitoba is grateful the province established the task force and is planning to offer more transparent reporting.
"We're all working together to clear this massive backlog," he said at Wednesday's news conference. "We are up to the challenge."
However, Doctors Manitoba is still calling for the province to set a target date for clearing the backlog, Thompson said.
That would be "a clear signal to the health system about government's commitment to ensure appropriate resources are mobilized to address the backlog, and second, it gives patients who are waiting hope," he said.
He acknowledged that won't be easy, but said it can be done.
Thompson, a self-professed NASA geek, alluded to U.S. president John F. Kennedy's famous 1961 promise to put a man on the moon by the end of that decade.
"It was a literal moonshot. There are so many variables, it's so complicated and so many unknowns, yet they were still able to do it," the emergency department doctor said.
"This is not a moonshot. It's complicated, but it's not as complicated as putting someone on the moon."
Matear, though, said it's impossible for the task force to know at this point how long it will take to eliminate the backlog.
Discussions are ongoing with people in the health-care system about ways to increase capacity to meet surgical and diagnostic needs close to home, as well as with partners in other jurisdictions who can make up the difference, Matear said.
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