Ontario has a pandemic backlog of 1 million surgeries. One group has a prescription for change

Christopher Christinislooking forward to finally gettinghis hip replaced in mid-June after a year of suffering worsening pain while on a waiting list for surgery.

The operationshouldallow the Ottawa retireetoreturn to thewalks, bike ridesand exerciseshe was forced to stop.He's also hopingit'll endyears ofdealing with ahealth-care system that, even before the pandemic, didn't always make it easy for him to get help.

"I've waited approximately five years, but that has a lot to do with the previous doctors, finding the right doctor to do the operation, and COVID," said Christin, 68.

Ontarians like Christin have been navigating a health-care system that the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) says wasstrained even before COVID-19, and has been pushed into a crisisbecause of it. During theprovincial election campaign, the OMA says parties need to commit to clearing a pandemic backlog of almost 22 million health-care services which includes onemillion surgeries to keep things from worsening even further.

"We did the best we could with what we had," said Dr. Rose Zacharias, president of the OMA, which represents43,000 physicians, medical students and retired physicians.

"We need to prepare better invest in a public health strategy so the next time crisis comes around, we know how to better deal with it. Ontarians paid too high a price."

'We've lost 6 years of our life'

Zacharias says thebacklog in services includespreventative care andcancer screenings, diagnostic tests such as MRIs and CT scans, and medical treatments and surgeries.

Not only have people been waitingto get seen by professionals, but the delay has also worsened many patients'conditionsby the time they finally gettheir foot in the door, she says.

"Plus, piled on top of that is the mental duress of carrying the burden of a physical ailment," saidZacharias.

Christin's wife, Diane, says she was his number one advocate in trying to find him help. She says it was frustrating having to watch her husband's health deteriorate, when a surgery years ago could have prevented that.

"We've lost six years of our life," she said.

"He can't travel with me. We can't go anywhere, we can't do anything. Other than COVID, our life is on hold waiting for this to happen."

Sandra Thwaites, 67,is one of thousands of Ontario patients who've had surgeries scheduled and repeatedly postponed

"I was very upset that I couldn't even have a date, and then, if necessary, somebody could cancel that," said Thwaites, who addedshe's waited two years for cataract surgery that she was told would be life-changing.

After three rescheduled surgery dates, the Ottawa residentgot her first eye operationdone on May 16, and has a tentativedate of June6 for her other eye.

Ahead of election day on Jun. 2, Thwaites says parties need to work hard to explain to voters why public health care was allowed to erode over time to this point, going beyondthehallway health care that parties previously promised they would fix.

"I believe that health care is kind of what sets Canada apart from many other countries. It feels like we're just losing that, or we've lost it."

A prescription for Ontario's health system

Months ahead ofthe election, the OMA released a five-point plan to help inform the new provincial government what's neededto help the public health-care system recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zacharias says the association iscallingon the incoming government to:

• Invest money for staff, infrastructure and a streamlined system toreduce wait times and service backlogs.
• Expand mental health and addiction services.
• Improve and expand home and other community care to reduce reliance on hospitals and long-term care.
• Strengthen public health and pandemic preparedness.
• Give every patient a team of health-care providers that can interact digitally, as there are 1.3 million Ontarians who currently don't have a family doctor.

What the parties are promising

Each political party has outlined specific commitments to tackle the surgical backlog.

According to April's pre-election budget, Doug Ford's Progressive Conservativessay they'llinvest an additional $3.3 billion inhospitals for202223. This additional funding would include$300 million fordelays insurgeryand diagnostic imaging.

The Ontario Liberal Party's platform says itwillestablish maximum wait times for surgeries and return to pre-pandemic wait times by the end of 2022, and clear the wait lists with a $1 billion investment in public health care to help hospitals operate "significantly above" pre-pandemic volumes, including into evenings and weekends.

The NDPsays it will identify and publicize the number of delayed procedures and publish regular progress reports, expand operating room hours over the evenings and weekends to increase hospital capacity, launch a hiring blitz forhealth-care workers, and create a centralized referral system, all "without privatizing our health-care system."

The Green Party of Ontariosays it will increase baseline funding for hospitals, hire more health-care professionals, help retain existing workers with wage increases, andwork with the federal governmentto provide surge funding to reduce the backlog in surgeries, imagingand other services.

This election, the OMA has graded each party on an 18-pointsystem on how closely their platforms align with itsplan. The Ontario Greens rank last at nine points, the Liberals and the PCs second at 10 points, and NDPfirst at 11 points.

"I'm very confident in our prescription. As far as the confidence of implementation ... time will tell," saidZacharias.