Manitobans will be able to see diagnostic, surgical backlog data with online dashboard: task force

The task force charged with addressing the backlog of thousands of diagnostic and surgical procedures in Manitoba says it's workingon anonline dashboard that will give a monthly report on the wait times.

"This will give Manitobans a broad view of of the work we are doing, where we've made progress and where we'llstill have improvements to make," Dr. Peter MacDonald, the chair of thediagnostic and surgical recovery task force steering committee, said at a Wednesday news conference.

The new dashboard will be a collaboration with Doctors Manitoba,which has its own dashboardand has pressed the province to release more data about the backlog of surgical and diagnostic procedures.

The online tool will go live sometime in Julyand will be updatedmonthly, saidDavid Matear, theprovincial executive director of the task force.

It will provide data on the top eight proceduresin the province to start withand will broaden as possible, he said.

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The announcement comes after Doctors Manitoba, which represents physicians in the province,said on Tuesday that between 102,139 and 128,447 procedures are waiting to be performed a drop from166,903 in May.

That includes between 31,664 and 39,674 surgeries, 12,346 to 17,039 diagnostic imaging tests, and 58,129 to71,734 other procedures, including allergy tests, mammograms and chronic pain assessments, the advocacy organization said.

For the first time, former president of Doctors Manitoba and current board chair Kristjan Thompson joined the provincial task force on Wednesday to deliver the backlog update announcement.

Thompson says Doctors Manitoba is grateful the province established the task force and is planning to offer more transparent reporting.

"We're all working together to clear this massive backlog," he said at Wednesday's news conference."We are up to the challenge."

However, Doctors Manitoba is still calling for the province to set atarget date for clearing the backlog, Thompson said.

That would be "a clear signal to the health system about government'scommitment to ensure appropriate resources are mobilized to address the backlog, and second, it gives patients who are waiting hope," he said.

He acknowledged that won't be easy, but said it can be done.

Thompson, a self-professed NASA geek,alludedto U.S. president John F. Kennedy's famous 1961promise to put a man on the moon by the end of that decade.

"It was a literal moonshot. There are so many variables, it's so complicated and so many unknowns, yetthey were still able to do it," the emergency department doctor said.

"This is not a moonshot. It's complicated, but it's not as complicated as putting someone on the moon."

Matear, though, saidit's impossible for the task force to know at this pointhow long it will take to eliminate the backlog.

Discussions are ongoing with people in the health-care system about ways to increase capacity to meet surgical and diagnostic needs close to home, as well as withpartners in other jurisdictions who can make up the difference, Matear said.

Online dashboard will give monthly report on the wait times

2 years ago

Duration 2:17

The task force charged with addressing the backlog of thousands of diagnostic and surgical procedures in Manitoba says it's working on an online dashboard that will give a monthly report on the wait times.