Moncton wait times for knee and hip replacements longest in New Brunswick

Wait times for hip and knee replacementsurgery at both ofMoncton'shospitals are the longest in the provincein some cases triple the wait times atother hospitals.

"Itmakes me angry actually," said Moncton resident Vivian LeBlancwho is waiting for a knee replacement.

When LeBlancretired from her career as a nurse, she was looking forward to spending time playingwith her grandchildren, travelling with her husband and golfing with friends.

Instead, the 61-year-oldspends her days in chronic pain waiting for a surgery that could be up to two years away.

"I would really like to have a good quality of life. None of us know when the shoe is going todrop, but I'm young and I want to get going again and I feel it very unfair," LeBlanctoldInformation MorningMoncton.

Dr. MichaelForsythe, an orthhopedic surgeon,said he sees patients, such asLeBlancevery day, and dreads having to tell them their wait for relief will be atleast 18 months.

"The only long-term solution that I could offer her as a surgeon was knee replacement surgery," Forsythe said.

"Unfortunately I had to explain to her thatthe current wait time in my practice for knee replacement surgery is 18 monthsand the current wait time for hip replacement surgery is around one year."

National benchmark is 182 days

According to aDepartment of Health websitethat tracks wait times for surgery, nine out of10 patients at the MonctonHospital waited 588 daysor 1.6 years,for a hip replacement and 726 days, or nearly twoyears, for a knee replacement between April and June of 2016.

Meanwhile, patients at the Dr.Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centrefacedsimilar waits at557 days for a hip replacement and 681 days for a knee replacement.

I've been a citizen of New Brunswick all my life and I deserve better I think.- VivianLeBlanc, Moncton patient

The national benchmark for both surgeries,according to the Department of Health, is 182 days.

The only hospitals in the province that offer hip and knee replacements within the 182 day benchmark are theEdmundston Regional Hospital and theDr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton.

Forsythe saidit is a struggle to treat patients who are waiting so long for surgery, particularly when their condition worsens while they are waiting.

"We have trouble toprioritizethesepatientsbecause we see them, we put them on a list and then we don't see them for a year-and-a-half to two years unless they contact our office and some patients will do that and some won't," he said.

"I do my best, but certainly I can't have every patient calling our office after they're on the list toreprioritizethem because we just don't have the resources to deal with the list we have."

Health minister 'passing the buck'

LeBlancsenta letter to Health Minister Victor Boudreau, expressing her frustration at the long wait times.

"People should not have to wait more than sixmonths for this type of surgery. Open up twomore ORs at the Moncton Hospital and Georges Dumont Hospital until the wait list is reduced to sixmonths," LeBlanc wrote.

"The cost is great on the front end but the price to your citizens needing this surgery is priceless." LeBlancwrote.

LeBlanc did receive a form letter in response, recommending she go back to her surgeon, who determines where she is on the priority listorconsider going to another New Brunswick hospital with a shorter wait time.

"It's just not an option for me. I want my doctors, who I am very familiar with around for me, but also my family in case something is amiss with surgery," she said.

"It's quite wrong to put that on a patient and to put it on a surgeon."

Forsythewasn't happy with the response from the Department of Health either.

"The fact that the governmentresponse has been to redirect the patients back to their surgeon is a response that really is just passing the buck," he said.

CBC News contacted Health Minister Victor Boudreaufor a response and he will be speaking later in the week.

Forsythe warns the problem in New Brunswick over the past 18 months has gotten worse, not better, with the number of people needed joint replacement rising "exponentially."

Operating rooms should be open longer

Forsythesaid hehas contacted the Department of Health asking for a meeting to discuss the challenges in the Moncton area, butsaid he has yet to receive a response.

"It's a resource issue. The Moncton area is a growing populationit's the largest metropolitan centre and the resourceshaven't followed where the population is."

Forsythe said there are 12orthopedic surgeons in the Moncton area, which is sufficient, but the hospitals need increased access to operating rooms and access to hospital beds for patients who are recovering.

Part of the solution would be to add more operating rooms and keep them open longer.

LeBlanc adds the decision may be an economic one for the provincial government, but for her, it is about much more than the bottom line.

"I've been a citizen of New Brunswick all my life and I deserve better, I think. I really, truly do. I've worked hard all my life and to be able to have the quality of life that I want I need the surgery simple as that," shesaid.