Halifax wait times for outpatient physiotherapy are long, but improving

Wait times are shrinking for some in the Halifax area who need outpatient physiotherapy, but health professionals say much work remains to further shorten times next year. 

Randi Monroe, the director of the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre's rehabilitation and supportive care services, says wait times are long because the volume of people being referred to outpatient physiotherapy in the area has grown by 65 per cent in recent years and is expected to continue growing.

Monroe says this influx in referrals is an issue across the country.

"We certainly have a kind of perfect storm with the aging population and the high rate of chronic disease, particularly in Nova Scotia," he said. "It means people are often coming in with not just one issue, but several issues."

A November report shows 1,825 people were waiting for physiotherapy in the Halifax area, said Monroe.

There are seven sites for outpatient physiotherapy, with the largest number of people waiting to get into the Cobequid Community Health Centre. It's the only place that only serves outpatients. 

Monroe said people prefer that location because it's convenient, there's good parking and a great team. She said the demand has always exceeded the number of outpatient physiotherapists there.

Wait times falling

The longest wait time at the Cobequid Community Health Centre is now 7.5 months, Monroe said. They try to see urgent patients within five days.

That's an improvement from 2014, when some were waiting more than a year.

Monroe says wait times ebb and flow depending on the time of year, but they have made some progress since the fall.

"They looked at some of the long-waiters, so there were people waiting over a year, and 100 of those referrals on the Cobequid wait list were actually deferred to other sites," she said.

Patients are always given the option to go to another site with a shorter list, Monroe said.

They're also working on strategies across the sites, such as linking up with community health teams who offer exercise classes. In some cases, they put six of seven people with knee replacements into group physiotherapy.

Monroe said they're also promoting the use of private insurance and looking at whether patients can be treated in different ways before and after surgery.

Health officials may also look at reallocating some physiotherapists, or putting a cap on how many times physiotherapists can see people, she said.