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A new national report out this week measures performance on 12 Shared Health Priorities agreed to by provincial and federal governments. Manitoba does not compare well on several indicators measured by the Canadian Institute for Health Information

WHY IT MATTERS: Manitoba’s health care system has struggled following years of under-funding and pandemic disruptions, with the effects still being felt by doctors, health workers, and patients. 

👎 Top areas of concern:

• While Manitoba and most provinces have now returned to pre-pandemic surgical volumes, the report shows that Manitoba lost 41,267 surgeries during the pandemic, and that backlog is still at 40,160 as of this past spring. That’s the equivalent to losing about 40% of a typical year’s surgical volume, the second worst of all provinces when it comes to lingering pandemic backlogs. 
• Cataract surgery volumes are still down 10% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
• As of last year about 15% of our population or about 200,000 Manitobans still do not have a family doctor or regular health care provider.
• Wait times for community mental health counselling in Manitoba were 32 days (median), longer than the national average of 25 days.
• Only 19% of health providers can share patient information electronically in Manitoba, among the worst of all provinces. 

👍 Some good news:

• Manitoba continues to have strong performance on repairing hip fractures within 48 hours, with 88% of cases completed within this benchmark.
• Volumes for hip and knee replacements have grown significantly, though only 50% of patients receive their surgery within the 26-week benchmark
• Fewer Manitobans are admitted to hospital for conditions that could be treated in primary care than the national average, though the rates are actually higher for rural and low-income patients. 

➡ You can read the full report from CIHI here.

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