Omicron, staff shortages at hospitals and a surge of respiratory illnesses have stretched the delays into months and sometimes even years.
Like any energetic five-year-old, William Kazan loves to run and play, always racing to get to the park or keep up with his friends.
“We were told it was best to do this when he was younger,” says his father, Matt Kazan. “We hoped he could have the surgery before he was old enough to really remember it.William is one of thousands of children in Ontario waiting months too long for their scheduled surgeries. “Unfortunately, children’s hospitals across the province are starting to struggle again with critical care and inpatient capacity,” says Bruce Squires, president of McMaster Children’s Hospital. He says a high number of kids are being admitted for respiratory infections, taking the place of those who would need hospital care after a scheduled surgery.
“Things have gotten worse. Despite doing our best, the wait list is still rising and that means there are more children on the wait list and the overall volume of children who are outside the safe clinical window has also increased.” He notes that ramping back up to pre-pandemic surgical capacity won’t make a meaningful impact on wait lists, and says hospitals need additional resources to get waits down. With more staff, SickKids could open operating rooms into the evenings to do more surgeries. And getting funds for a minor-procedures unit within the hospital would free up operating rooms for complex cases, ensuring more surgeries overall get done.
William was finally booked for surgery this past spring. It was scheduled for April 27 to correct his left foot, with the other to be operated on a few months later. But the hospital postponed the procedure and William continues to wait. However, many more children are now waiting beyond recommended clinical benchmarks. Fifty-five per cent of kids on surgical wait lists are considered “long waiters,” up from about 20 per cent pre-pandemic, says Dr. Chris Simpson, executive vice-president of medical at Ontario Health.
“I think that is achievable,” he says, noting there are “no funding barriers” and that individual hospitals have to figure out the “ground game” on how to lower surgical waits for kids. “Our emergency department is incredibly busy, busier than it ever has been, and that brings more patients to the floor and hinders our progress on surgical wait times.”
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