Alberta’s government and its health partners have launched an aggressive expansion plan to provide 55,000 more scheduled surgeries in the coming fiscal year starting April 1, on top of the normal pre-pandemic volume of 290,000 surgeries. This will eliminate the pandemic backlog of postponed surgeries, and take a first step toward the government’s goal of treating every patient within a clinically acceptable time.

“We promised Albertans shorter wait times for surgery and we’re going to deliver. The pandemic has forced us to adjust, but it hasn’t changed our commitment to giving Albertans the best access to scheduled surgery in Canada. AHS, Covenant Health and chartered surgical facilities are already doing more surgeries in some areas. Going forward, we’re going to eliminate the backlog this year and press on toward the goal of the Alberta Surgical Initiative – to provide all scheduled surgeries within clinically acceptable times by 2023.”

Chartered surgical facilities began ramping up their surgical activity in December, especially cataract surgeries that have the largest wait-lists. As new and existing chartered surgical facilities begin working under contract with AHS this spring and throughout the year, they will complete about 90,000 surgeries each year by 2023, up from the more than 40,000 surgeries they currently perform in a year. AHS will issue requests for proposals for additional capacity for ophthalmology and orthopedic surgical services in March and May respectively.

“We have appreciated the opportunity to share our partnership value with AHS. This partnership has, as our collective goal, reduced surgical wait times in the past and will now, hopefully and importantly, identify sustainable solutions for the future. Our partnership with AHS underscores our continued commitment to support the timely and safe access to surgery for Albertans.”

Chartered surgical facilities have offered safe, less-complex, publicly funded surgeries to Albertans since the 1990s, taking pressure off hospitals to allow them to focus on more complex and emergency surgical patients.

More surgeries are also being performed at five hospital sites dedicated to surgical patients so people don’t face postponements as space and resources are reserved for COVID-19 patients. AHS and Covenant Health hospitals in Edson, Innisfail, Peace River and Banff, and the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton have increased their surgical capacity by keeping their operating rooms open into evenings and weekends while still providing quality, safe care for other patients, including those with COVID-19.

“We are dedicated to ensuring improved access to surgeries for Albertans. Seeking an expansion of procedures with our chartered surgical facility partners will help manage demand and enhance capacity in high-need areas, such as cataract surgeries. Working in partnership with Alberta Health and these chartered surgical facilities, we are ensuring patients and families receive the surgery they need, when they need it, according to best practices and target benchmarks. These changes will improve access to surgery for patients, and will increase efficiency in our health-care system.”

Altogether, the province reduced the surgical wait-list by almost 3,000 patients from about 77,000 in spring 2020 to about 74,200 patients currently, with a clear plan forward under the Alberta Surgical Initiative. The initiative will strengthen the entire surgical system, from the time patients seek advice from their family doctor to when they are referred to a specialist and through their surgery and rehabilitation.

Budget 2021 protects lives and livelihoods with a historic investment in health care while laying the foundation for economic growth. Through the prudent management of tax dollars, Alberta’s government can continue to invest in priority areas to ensure Alberta emerges from COVID-19 stronger than ever.

Quick facts

• Budget 2021 includes:
  • $120 million in operating funds for the Alberta Surgical Initiative (ASI) in 2021-22 to increase access to and the number of surgical procedures across the province.
  • Additional funding from the $1.25-billion COVID Contingency will also be used to address the surgical backlog caused by the pandemic, as surgeries were postponed so hospitals would have space to care for the influx of COVID-19 patients.
  • $120 million in capital funding over three years to expand surgical capacity in AHS-owned facilities by using existing operating rooms more efficiently, renovating existing or building new operating rooms across the province and expanding acute care in AHS facilities.
  • Projects are underway or being planned in Calgary, Edmonton, Edson, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Rocky Mountain House.
• Between April and December 2020, Alberta provided more than 178,000 surgeries, or 86 per cent of the number of surgeries it performed in the same period the previous year, prior to the pandemic.
• The backlog of surgeries due to the impact of COVID-19 is expected to be about 36,000 procedures by the end of March, and is expected to be eliminated by the end of 2021 at the latest.