A provincial leader in ending gender-based violence returned home to Victoria on Friday from Calgary, where she had hip surgery at a private clinic after giving up on the idea of waiting for the surgery in B.C.
After hearing that some patients were waiting one to two years for hip replacements, Tracy Porteous, 64, said she and partner Becki Ross “saw the writing on the wall.”
“So we attached $28,000 to our mortgage,” said Porteous. She said she was unable to walk for months and on prescription opioids for “unbearable, severe pain.” “It was really motivated by pain.”
If her other hip goes, she won’t be able to afford private care a second time, she said.
Porteous, a recipient of the Order of B.C. for her work in the prevention of sexual and domestic violence, had her hip replacement at the private Surgical Solutions Network in Calgary on Monday.
Porteous, who has osteoarthritis in her family, said she sought care for knee and hip pain in 2021 that “went from bad to worse really fast.”
Porteous was referred by Telus Health and first saw an orthopedic surgeon at RebalanceMD in Saanich in December 2021. She received regular injections to her hip and knee joints to ease the pain, and was moved up the waitlist for surgery on her hip as her symptoms and nerve pain worsened.
During that time, her femoral head (ball of the hip) partially collapsed and she experienced “the searing pain of bone on bone in my hip joint.”
Her case was deemed “urgent” in July and she was told in August she would get surgery “right away.” After weeks with no surgical date and no call back — and news of hospital operating-room closures and elective surgery cancellations — she put her mind to other options.
Porteous acknowledges joint replacement surgery is not urgent the way that heart or cancer surgery is, but suggests it’s not exactly “elective” like cosmetic surgery, especially when debilitating pain and immobility are involved.
“Along this short journey, I’ve met people who have contemplated MAID because they have waited so long for their joint replacement — two and four years,” said Porteous.
Once the Oaklands couple made the tough decision to go the fee-for-service route in Calgary, Porteous said she felt tremendous relief. “I had to do something as I couldn’t go on endlessly, in that opioid holding pattern.”
Porteous said the surgical clinic in Calgary did eight joint replacement surgeries the day she was there and four, or half of the patients there, were from B.C. Porteous said she was told by staff they are seeing more patients from B.C.
RebalanceMD CEO Stefan Fletcher said there are approximately 3,000 patients like Porteous waiting for surgery.
“This is the worst it’s been in 10 years here in Victoria,” Fletcher said.
“We understand the feeling of desperation, and imagine the volume of calls we are getting from patients — it’s depressing for staff and surgeons when there’s little light at the end of the tunnel right now.”
While the capital region has grown significantly over the past five years, surgical time allocation hasn’t kept up, he said. “This is a problem throughout Canada,” he said. “Other jurisdictions have innovated with weekend surgeries and/or contracted work to private facilities.“
RebalanceMD is adding 300 patients every month to surgical lists, said Fletcher, and is in discussions with Island Health and the Health Ministry “to find ways for more surgical capacity in this current crisis.”
Royal Jubilee Hospital has nine of 12 operating rooms open for regular operations, while Victoria General has nine of 10 open. Staff shortages, particularly nurses, are the challenge.
Island Health says staff recruitment efforts are underway and in the meantime, 27 days of operating-room time — or about 105 people — were added for surgery since last month. In November, Island Health hopes to open one more operating room at each of the two Victoria hospitals.
In the meantime, Fletcher said, there is merit to the idea of a surgical facility for orthopaedics outside the hospital as a solution.
Health Minister Adrian Dix, in a media availability from Charlottetown on Thursday, said B.C. saw 13,000 additional operating-room hours this year, particularly over the summer.
Dix said there’s been increases across the board — from vascular surgery to orthopedic to cataract surgeries.
“We’re not satisfied and we want to continue, especially in Victoria, to address these issues,” said Dix.
Dr. Joshua Greggain, president of the Doctors of B.C., said B.C. is not in favour of privatization and therefore there are no private surgical centres for joint replacement surgeries.
Greggain said it’s not that patients can’t get access to joint replacement surgery in B.C. — it’s a matter of wait times and equity.
“When we talk about privatized health care, and someone who can go get a hip replacement for $20,000, that may be out of reach for many people,” said Greggain. “It’s the principle of access against the principle of equity, which I think we as a nation are wrestling with.”
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: letters@timescolonist.com