Atlantic Provinces Work Together To Improve Wait Times

Patients needing surgery to bypass blocked heart arteries will receive better care sooner, thanks to a memorandum of understanding signed today, May 16, at the Council of the Atlantic Premiers meeting in Sussex, N.B.

Under the agreement, patients from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador can get treatment from the other Atlantic provinces to meet the national wait time benchmark of 182 days.

Currently, wait times for the procedure in Nova Scotia are between three and 19 days, tied with five other provinces for the shortest wait time. Nova Scotia will accept patients from the other regions as long as there is room.

"Because wait times for this procedure are relatively short in Nova Scotia, we have the capacity to help other provinces' patients who may be experiencing longer waits," said Premier Darrell Dexter. "This agreement also gives us reassurance that care is there when Nova Scotians need it."

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft surgery improves blood supply to the heart by using a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body (such as the leg) and grafting it onto the heart to get around a blockage. The surgery helps relieve angina and reduces the risk of death from coronary artery disease.

Residents of Prince Edward Island, where the surgery is not available, will continue to have access to care in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and now Newfoundland and Labrador, as capacity allows.

The agreement is similar to another memorandum that provides cancer radiation therapy for patients from other Atlantic provinces if the patient's home province cannot provide it within eight weeks.

The current wait time in Nova Scotia for radiation therapy is less than four weeks, however roughly 89 per cent of patients are seen sooner.

Through both agreements, approved care provided in another province is paid for by the province in which the patient resides.