The province’s health authority quietly increased a deal with a private health clinic in Halifax recently, allowing it to perform more day surgeries.
As of this fall, Scotia Surgery will conduct surgeries for the province five days a week, central zone chief of surgery Dr. David Kirkpatrick said.
Previously the clinic performed surgeries three days a week.
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The health authority isn’t releasing a cost estimate for the new contract. In the last three years, the three-day-a week contract cost taxpayers between $1.1 and $1.4 million each year.
Adding two more days means approximately 350 more surgeries can happen yearly, Nova Scotia Health Authority spokesperson Margaret Angus said.
Last year the private clinic performed 411 surgeries.
Part of Victoria General replacement plan
The new contract is part of the health authority’s plan to replace the beleaguered Victoria General Hospital in downtown Halifax.
In April, the health authority announced it would be pursuing a bigger contract with Scotia Surgery but few other details were given at that time.
Increasing the number of surgeries isn’t just a stop-gap measure while the health authority replaces the Victoria General site, instead its likely to be “the new normal,” Kirkpatrick said.
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All three major political parties have backed Scotia Surgery contracts while they were in office, however a provincial advocacy group says its concerned about the additional use of a private clinic.
“This is a problem where we’re not actually building the necessary infrastructure to make sure that we can conduct these surgeries ourselves,” Nova Scotia Health Coalition provincial coordinator Chris Parsons said.
“We’re giving public money to expand a for profit, private business.”
No press release or media advisory was sent out to announce the extended contract, but the health authority says it was signed on June 8.
Additional surgeries will start this year, once the health authority decides what type of surgeries will be conducted at the site, Kirkpatrick said.
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