In a press conference this afternoon at 1:30 pm, the Government of Manitoba announced that they have established a task force with the current diagnostic and surgical backlogs as their top priority.
The Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force will address the current wait-lists and all related services that have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The work the task force will be doing will include identifying the priority needs of all patients and implementing local and out-of-province services in order to offer the safest and most timely healthcare solutions.
The task force will include highly respected local healthcare professionals who will be working with experts from across Canada. The work has already begun to identify and implement short and long-term solutions to deal with all the backlogs.
Some of the solutions will include:
- Creating a centralized information management system for healthcare providers that will include surgical and diagnostic waitlist information to streamline when and where surgeries and tests can be done;
- Ensuring healthcare professionals are working to the full scope of their practice;
- Providing monthly updates to ensure Manitobans receive timely, consistent, and transparent information;
- Negotiating agreements with specialized healthcare providers both inside and outside of the province who can increase the number of surgeries and services performed
- Finding patients who are ready for their procedures and can travel to other jurisdictions where it could be performed sooner.
A report can be expected in the new year that will set out an analysis of the situation, a summary of the progress so far, and how success will be measured in the near future.
