Manitoba to add 800 annual hip, knee replacement surgeries in Selkirk

The province will ease the burden of surgical backlogs beginning early in the new year, the premier says.

Premier Wab Kinew is expected to unveil that an additional 800 hip and knee replacement surgeries will be performed annually out of the Selkirk Regional Health Centre during Tuesday's throne speech at the Manitoba Legislature. 

It's a big boost to shrinking surgical wait times, which have grown since the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This is all about giving Manitobans who are waiting for a hip surgery or a knee surgery what they want, which is a date to get that procedure," Kinew told CBC News on Monday evening. 

"We're making the investment in staffing and having more people on the front lines means that you can be seen more quickly, and we'll be able to cut down on those wait times."

The province recruited two surgeons from outside Manitoba, as well as an anesthesiologist, all of whom will play a pivotal hands-on role in performing the surgeries.

The estimated price tag is $4 million, according to the province.

A report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information last month noted that between April and September 2023, just 50 per cent of hip and knee replacements in Manitoba were done within the clinically accepted benchmark of 26 weeks. 

The national average during the reporting period was 62 per cent, with Manitoba only ahead of Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces on a province-to-province scale.

The national average was 72 per cent in 2019.

Quelling staff shortages key to more surgeries

The biggest hurdle to having more hip and knee surgeries performed in Manitoba on a daily basis came down to staffing and recruiting health-care professionals back to the front lines following "the exodus of staff" under the previous Progressive Conservative government, the premier said.

More staff, including nurses, to go along with 15 new transitional care beds that are now up and running at the Selkirk hospital allowed the province to add the additional surgeries.

Kinew was non-committal when asked if more hospitals would be able to offer hip and knee surgeries in the future.

"We've got to have a provincewide approach here and that's why announcing this at Selkirk is exciting for our team. We know that there's a lot of people who are going to get their procedures at the Concordia Hospital, the Grace Hospital, other sites around the province," he said.

"To be able to add capacity to serve Manitobans from all regions and also to do that in the Interlake-Eastern health region, I think is important because we want that health care to be close to home for as many people as possible — for everyone — and this is an important step toward that."

Dr. Edward Buchel, provincial surgery lead for Shared Health, has been among staff on the front lines that have been influential in sharing expertise with the province, Kinew said. 

"We know that when we listen to the front lines, that's when we can serve you better. And so we're just trying to make sure that we're responsive to the experts, the people who are actually going to be doing the surgeries, the nurses who are going to help you in the [operating room], but also in the recovery room," he said.

Kinew wants to allow more Manitobans waiting for joint replacement surgeries to have their lives back.

"If we can get you in to see a surgeon more quickly, you're going to have that freedom, and it's up to you to decide how you use it," he said. 

"It's up to us to try and get you more surgeries so that you can improve that quality of life."