An Alberta pilot project has cut wait times for hip and knee surgeries to a fraction of the average wait largely by rejigging how hospital services are organized and delivered.

Patients who normally would have waited an average of 47 weeks for an orthopedic consultation were treated in under five weeks.

The Edmonton Journal reports that several factors were key to the improvements. The number of surgeries performed in each operating room was raised to three or four, instead of just one or two.

Hospital waiting room (CP file photo)
Hospital waiting room (CP file photo)

As well, surgeons worked with a team of nurses and physical therapists to move patients through the system quickly and get high-priority cases done first.

Alberta's Health Department contributed $20 million, mainly for additional staff and operating rooms. The speedier surgeries did not result in other health services being delayed or cancelled.

When the project was announced last year the health system was disconnected, with "silos" of services – like diagnostics and orthopedic surgery – being designed around that particular service, rather than around the patient.

Laurie Blakeman, a Liberal member of the provincial legislature, called the initial results "phenomenal" and said it proved the publicly funded health-care system is able to find solutions to the backlogs.

"Innovation doesn't only take place in the private system," Blakeman told the Edmonton Journal. "This is innovation in the public delivery system."

The full results of the pilot program were to be announced at a news conference Monday. The year-long project, which started in April, will see a total of 1,200 surgeries performed.

The average wait times seen within the pilot project are even lower than the new national standards announced by provincial and federal health ministers last week.

Nobody expected such staggering results, said Steve Buick, a spokesman for Capital Health region, one of three health regions where the pilot project was tried.

"It's the biggest single improvement in access to health care that I've seen in 10 years in the system," Buick said.

The pilot project was conceived of by the Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute, which is funded by the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.