Doctors Manitoba files freedom of information request to get province's backlog data

Doctors Manitoba has fileda freedom of information request to get data about surgical anddiagnostic backlogs from the province.

Provincial health officials have not yet shared any additional data to help with refining the backlog estimates, Doctors Manitoba says.

Theadvocacy group, whichrepresents more than 3,000 physicians in the province, made the announcement Friday in a news release that suggests the pandemic backlog for certainprocedures is still growing.

"While it's disappointing to see the estimated backlog grow again, the rate of growth has started to slow down,"Dr. Kristjan Thompson, an emergency room physician at St. Boniface Hospital and president of Doctors Manitoba, stated in the release.

The latestestimates from Doctors Manitoba put thebacklogat169,198 cases an increase of 1,311from March.

The backlog increasedby 6,300 cases betweenFebruary and March, and by7,748 betweenJanuary and February, according to the organization's estimates.

Late last year, the province created a task force to address the backlog, following months of lobbying by Doctors Manitoba. At the time,the estimate was 130,000 procedures.

There has been disagreement, though, overhow the task force andDoctors Manitoba tabulate the data regarding backlogs.

Dr. Peter MacDonald, chair of the task force's steering committee, said at the end of March that hedoesn't entirely agree with the advocacy organization's numbers and that the two groups would work togetherto verify the most accurate statistics.

He also said wait times may be a more important metricforpatients than the number of backlogged procedures.

Thompson said in Friday's news release that whilethere have been "several positive and constructive meetings," provincial health officials have yet toshare data that would help clarify the estimates.

Doctors Manitoba filed its freedom of information request for the data "to help advance work in this area, and get clearer information for the thousands of Manitobans waiting for tests and surgeries," Thompson said in the release.

He was unavailable for interviews on Friday due to his work schedule.

A spokesperson for the province said officials arebringing intechnology to track the reduction of the backlog in the form of a central intake system.

"Addressing the pandemic backlog is an immensely complex task as is quantifying the backlog," the spokesperson said.

Nearly back to pre-pandemic levels: task force lead

For nearly ayear now, Doctors Manitoba has estimated the backlog by calculating the number of procedures delivered since the pandemic began in March2020, compared to normal, pre-pandemic baseline volumes.

It said it does so byconsulting with specialty physicians who provide the care for the procedures. That methodology is consistent with other organizations, including the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Doctors Manitobasays.

However,after two years of the pandemic, it may be less reliable as some of the tests and surgeries missed may no longer be required, Doctors Manitoba's news release notes:

• Some tests are used for regular monitoring, so atest missed in the first year of the pandemic may have been done during the second year.
• Some patients may no longer need atest or procedurebecause their condition either improved or deteriorated, because they moved away, or because they died while waiting.
• Alternative and sometimes less ideal tests or treatments were used instead.

"It's important to know how massive the backlog truly is in order to plan how much work has to be done to clear it," Thompson said in the release.

On Thursday, task force headDr. David Matearsaidthe number of surgeries and diagnostic testsnow being completed is nearly as high asbefore the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We're trying to do everything to reduce the growth of the backlog, and we're pretty near that 100 per cent," he said.

However, physicians are looking for a concrete plan from the province on addressing the shortage of nurses, technologists and other professionals needed to catch up and keep up with testing and surgeries, Thompson stated in the release.

"This is the biggest barrier to clearing the backlog."

Doctors Manitoba says thebacklogbreakdown now consists of:

• 55,571 surgeries, up 751 casesover the last month.
• 46,189diagnostic imaging procedures like MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds, up 938cases.
• 67,438 other diagnostic testing procedures, including allergy tests, endoscopies, mammograms, sleep disorder studies, and lung function tests an improvement of 378cases over last month.

Doctors Manitoba estimates that while the changes are small, the backlog hasimproved in some areas such asallergy tests, mammograms and cataract surgeries.

"Physicians, their patients and all Manitobans are looking for more certainty and transparency about the backlog and wait times for testing and surgery," Thompson said.

The organization willkeep pressing the province to set detailedtarget datesto clear the backlogand provide comprehensive, monthly reporting to monitor that progress, Friday's news release said.

In the meantime, the group intends to continue trackingthevarious backlogged procedures on its own dashboard.