P.E.I. doubles target time success for knee replacements

P.E.I.'s health care system made dramatic improvements in hitting benchmarks for wait times for joint replacements between 2012 and 2016, says the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

In 2012, barely half of hip replacement patients and only about a third of knee replacement patients were getting their surgeries within the benchmark time of 182 days. By 2016, that was up to 70 per cent for hip replacement patients and 77 per cent for knee replacement patients.

The rate is still below the national average for hip replacements, but a little above the average for knee replacements.

Fracture repairs still lagging

The province also made progress in wait times for cataract surgery.

CIHI found 92 per cent of patients were getting the surgery within 112 days, up from 67 per cent in 2012, and well above the national average of 73 per cent.

The province made little headway, however, in improving the percentage of those getting hip fractures repaired within the 48-hour benchmark. That was steady around 75 per cent. The national average in 2016 was 86 per cent.

On the 28-day benchmark for radiation therapy, the province slipped slightly from 99 to 95 per cent. Nationally the figure was 97 per cent.

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