Nova Scotia fails to set knee, hip surgery wait-time targets, says auditor general

The Nova Scotia Health Authority has failed to adoptthe majority of recommendations to improvewait-time reporting for knee and hip surgeries, the province's auditor general says.

In his report released Wednesday, Michael Pickup said the health authority has only completed two of the seven recommendations he made in 2014 dealing with operating room usage and surgical wait-time reporting.

About 90 per cent of Nova Scotia patients receivetheir hip replacement within 750 days and knee replacements within 800 days. Across Canada, the goal is to see these patients receivethe treatment within 182 days.

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The province continues to have the longest wait times for knee and hip surgeries in Canada, Pickup said. He criticized thehealth authority for failing togive citizens a clear target of how long they must await for the operations as well as a monitoring system to indicate how hospitals are performing.

"Important recommendations, such as setting specific targets for short-term surgery wait times and publicly reporting against those targets, are not complete," he said in his report.

Nova Scotia in last place for knee and hip surgeries

The report says that the health authority told auditors they do have internal targets but the merger of regional health authorities has slowed down a response to the recommendations for a monitoring system.

However, Pickup's report said auditors had expected to see the health authority produce a timeline for following up on the recommendations.

"Our 2014 audit of surgical waitlist and operating room utilization found that Nova Scotia was not meeting national benchmarks ... which shows the importance of managing waitlists and operating room usage," says the report.

In addition to being in last place in the Canadian Institute of Health Information rankings for knee and hip surgeries, the province is in seventh place for cataract surgery.

Transportation Department criticized

The auditor general also says in the report that he's also concerned with slow progress by the Department of Transportation in making in carrying out 35 recommendations made in 2013 to improve measures that prevent inventory loss or theft.

"The recommendations are not complex and are within the department's control. The department's poor performance in dealing with these issues is disappointing," says the report.

Tri-County school board fails to complete study

Pickup also noted the Tri-County Regional School Board, based in Yarmouth, has yet to complete a study to understand the below-average performance of its 5,900 students.

The report notes the board continues to have below-average student achievement, highlighting the need for schools to identify root causes and make sure responses are targeting the key problem areas.

Pickup praises the Liberal government for improving its overall record on completing recommendations made in 2013 and 2014, saying close to three quarters of the 321 recommendations he made in the time period were carried out.