It looks good on paper but most in Saskatchewan are awaiting the real results.

The province has just released the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative (SkSI) Year Two Progress report and it reports there is steady progress in improving patient experiences and also in reducing surgical wait times.

Provincially, statistics indicate 97 per cent of surgeries in Saskatchewan were completed within the SkSI’s Year Two target of 12 months. Seven of the ten health regions that provide surgeries succeeded in reaching the target for 100 per cent of surgeries they provide. The two tertiary health regions, Saskatoon and Regina Qu’Appelle, provided 95 per cent of surgeries within one year.

“We’re proud of the progress made so far on our ambitious but attainable goal of providing sooner, safer, smarter care for patients,” Health Minister Don McMorris says. “We know that to be successful, we have to work on all aspects of surgical care – the ‘safer’ and ‘smarter’ initiatives as well as providing surgeries sooner,” Surgical Initiative physician leader Dr. Peter Barrett adds. “We’re listening to what patients are telling us, and the result is projects like streamlined patient pathways to standardize care, medication reconciliation and surgical safety checklists, all of which will make a tremendous difference to patient care.”

By 2014, the Surgical Initiative’s goal is to provide all patients with the opportunity to have surgery within three months, while improving the experience of surgical patients. By the end of 2012-13, the target is to reduce all surgical wait times to less than six months.

If this will actually be the case, it’s good news for Saskatchewan. Let’s get people off the wait lists and into the care they need, without having to leave our provincial borders.