People in the Kamloops region do not have to wait as long for surgery at Royal Inland Hospital.

RIH Orthopaedic Surgeon Tyler MacGregor says wait times for surgeries – like hip and knee replacements – have gone from two years, down to 8 to 12 weeks.

MacGregor says a year and a half ago they were concerned about taking on new patients because of the extensive wait; however, over the past six to 12 months, they’ve been able to send the complete opposite message.

“The Orthopaedic Group is going to be sending a letter out to all the primary care practitioners, family doctors and nurse practitioners saying for Arthroplasty — like hip and knee replacements — please make sure you’re referring to us here (at RIH), we can handle those patients now.”

He says the significant decrease over the past couple of years, is due to surgical expansions, the new Phil and Jennie Gaglardi Tower, and improved efficiency in the Operating Room.

“Before the new tower, we were running around eight ORs, then we went up to nine with the tower, then with the surgical expansion we were able to continue expanding up to 11 ORs,” said MacGregor.

“Right now the plan is to run 13 ORs a day here at RIH, once we get all the resources in place; that will allow us to repatriate all of these patients that are seeking care outside of our region.”

MacGregor says they’ve also been able to increase the number of surgeons from eight to ten.

“As you expand your or the actual numbers of OR’s, you need nurses, you need anesthesia; all of the different stakeholders are trying to work together to make sure we can recruit and retain workers.”

Meanwhile, MacGregor says they’ve also been able to secure more time in the OR and decreased the time in between surgery cases. He says that has made a significant difference in cutting down the backlog of people on the waitlist for joint replacement surgery.

“For a while there, we were getting backed up where you couldn’t move your patients out of the OR into recovery because they were so short; as the whole institution grows, those blockages for care and flow don’t hold us back anymore.”

He says the shift in wait times is huge news not only for people in Kamloops, but people in the surrounding communities as well.

“That is one of the things we are also putting out there to more remote communities; they used to be referred down the Lower Mainland or Kelowna or elsewhere, but we can handle those patients within our region now,” he said.

“We can keep people closer to home, provide their care in a timely fashion, and get them back on their feet and back to living life.”