Shorter waits for surgery
Posted Feb 2, 2013 9:09 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new program is helping the province speed up wait times for hip and knee surgeries.
AIM, the Access Improvement Measures program, teamed up with Calgary’s busiest facility to streamline the process.
Jennifer Hendricks with the Alberta Hip and Knee Clinic says they found a lot of ways to be more efficient and reduce the overall wait.
“From a referral received in our clinic to when they see a surgeon, the information when we went through the AIM, we reduced it by 63 days, from five months to three months. So right now it’s an average of three months especially if you’re seeing the next available appointment with a surgeon,” says Hendricks.
Officials say 90 per cent of those waiting for a hip replacement will have their surgery in about 35 weeks compared to the 39 they would have waited last year.
For a knee, it’s down from nearly 50 weeks to 39.
