Fraser Health isn't saying just how much Delta Hospital stands to gain from the health region's efforts to improve timely access to services such as MRIs and surgeries.
The health authority announced this week that it would provide an additional 1,500 MRI scans and more than 650 extra surgeries by the end of March, increases of four per cent and almost seven per cent, respectively, from current volumes.
Delta Hospital has become a centre in the region for day surgical procedures, as well as medical imaging, but it's not clear if procedures would increase at the Ladner facility.
A spokesperson with the authority would only tell the Optimist that Fraser Health is looking at all aspects of how it runs its programs and services.
"While Delta will benefit from these additional surgeries, we cannot confirm the number of procedures per community as this will be based on data we have gathered related to wait lists. Our priority is to provide surgeries for those that have been waiting the longest," the spokesperson said.
Delta Hospital saw 9,000 surgical day procedures and 30,000 diagnostic imaging tests last year.
The Fraser Health initiative leaves out any mention of expanding the surgical program at Delta Hospital to ease the backlog, something that could be achieved by keeping the operating rooms here open after 3 p.m. It's been a sore point for physicians, who first voiced concern last fall about the hospital being the only one in the region to close its operating rooms at such an early hour. They argued it's creating unnecessary delays in surgeries and forcing patients to be transferred elsewhere. The citizens' group Friends of Delta Hospital formed soon after the doctors raised the issue, hoping to create public awareness in a lobby effort to get the region to expand the hospital's surgical program. The group notes it was never fully restored after cuts over a decade ago, creating what's now being called a crisis.
The group is hosting a public forum at the Ladner Community Centre on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 1 p.m. "We are going to invite Premier Christy Clark and the Minister of Health, Dr. Terry Lake, to explain why the people of Delta Municipality and the Tsawwassen First Nation are being denied emergency surgical services after 3 p.m.," said Friends of Delta Hospital co-founder Doug Massey.
