Similarly, in the regions with regional hospitals, the number of patients waiting longer than 12 months has come down in that period," said Deb Jordan, executive director of acute and emergency services with the department.
The number of patients sitting on surgical waiting lists in the Saskatoon and the Regina Qu'Appelle health regions dropped by nearly 1,600 last year compared to 2004-05, the report states, noting in 2005-06 the two regions completed about 2,000 more surgeries than the previous year.
The annual report also noted that the seven largest regions performed more than 19,000 surgeries in the fi rst three months of this year, an increase year-over-year of nearly 1,000 cases.
"There are a number of reasons for the reduction in the waiting lists. First and foremost there is a very concerted effort being made by all the partners in the provision of services to reduce wait times," Jordan said.
However, despite the progress made on wait times, the department acknowledged there were still 3,221 patients on waiting lists who had been waiting longer than 18 months for surgery and an additional 2,761 patients who had been waiting longer than 12 months for surgery in Saskatoon and Regina.
"Our emphasis has always been that we want to focus on individual patients and ensure that they are receiving their surgeries in a reasonable time frame. Some good work has been done, but there is lot of work left to do as there are still some patients waiting too long for surgery. So we are working diligently to try and improve that," Jordan said, noting the department is talking to regional centres outside Saskatoon and Regina about increasing surgical volumes and access to services.
Sask. Health has also made some headway in improving access to diagnostic imaging services last year. Since March 2004, the total number of people waiting for an MRI has decreased provincially by 35.6 per cent.
According to the department's annual report, the province increased the number of MRI exams it performs by 22 per cent last year, for a total of more than 19,600, and increased its CT exam capacity by 14,400, for a total of about 105,000 or a 16 per cent increase over the previous year.
Patients in Saskatoon who previously would have waited 18 months for an MRI now are able to get their diagnostic test done in six months, and the average wait time for 85 per cent of Regina patients needing an MRI is about 10 weeks.
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