Manitoba heart health program criticized and complimented

WINNIPEG – An independent review of Manitoba’s Cardiac Sciences Program has found wait times for certain procedures are too long, and the number of cancellations for scheduled surgeries too high.

It also concluded St. Boniface Hospital was not ready to start a heart transplant program, largely due to a lack of available donors and “physician manpower issues.”

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority asked the University of Ottawa’s Heart Institute to review its program in 2013. The WRHA received the 25-page report last week and spoke to the findings Tuesday.

“The patients in our program should remain very confident in our program,” said WRHA chief medical officer Dr. Brock Wright.

While the report found outcomes for patients in the program to be “very good” and concluded it has “demonstrated excellent values for compassionate care,” it also found several deficiencies.

Wait lists for procedures such as echocardiograms were well above the national average. As many as 4,000 people were on the list — well above the national average — leaving some to wait months for the test.

The report also found there were as many as 120 cancelled or postponed heart surgeries per year and considered it to be a “major problem” for the program. Wright said those were largely in elective or scheduled surgeries, and those with urgent needs always received care. The report also found manpower and morale to be an issue, saying “the heavy workload is impacting recruitment and morale and needs to be addressed urgently.”

The WRHA is working on staffing and increasing the number of beds, Wright said.  Currently there are 15 beds available in the program’s intensive care unit but on average only 11 are used.