The first six months of this fiscal year had the highest volumes of surgeries ever recorded in Saskatchewan. From April through September there were 47,748 procedures performed which is just over a ten per cent increase from last year. The SHA states that about 19 per cent of all surgeries performed since 2020 have been in private surgical centres.

Executive Director of Provincial Surgical Services, Cindy Graham, says the SHA’s goals are to surpass last year’s highest surgical volume of over 90,000 and to ensure 90 per cent of surgeries are performed within ten months. They have been achieving those since April, however, they are slightly behind pace for the goal of no one waiting more than 18 months by the end of March. Overall though, the wait list is down. “The number of people waiting for surgery in this province has decreased by 11 per cent. We went from almost 32,000 at the beginning of April down to just over 28,000 at the end of September.”

Provincial Department Head of Surgery, Dr. Mike Kelly says through improved recruitment and retention of health care professionals, he expects they will be able to reach their aggressive surgical targets. The provincial NDP cites the Canadian Institute for Health Information which indicates Saskatchewan has the longest wait times for knee and hip replacements. Dr. Kelly says those statistics are about a year old.