Additional cash is available to reduce wait lists at B.C. hospitals but it’s not known if the North Okanagan will get any. The
Ministry of Health is providing an extra $25 million to provincial health authorities for elective hip and knee surgeries, as well as other diagnostic and surgical procedures. Officials at Vernon Jubilee Hospital hope some of that money will make its way into local services. “I put a proposal in for cataract surgery and for screening for bowel cancer,” said Assunta Shepherd, director of acute care services. Of the $25 million, $12.5 million will go towards 850 hip and knee joint replacement surgeries 
across B.C. while $7.5 million will be for diagnostic and surgical procedures such as cataracts and cardiac. There will also be $5 million to improve health system responses to increased demands on critical care facilities. Shepherd says the wait list for cataracts and cancer screening isn’t that bad locally, but it warrants some attention. “There is a wait list for endoscopy (bowel cancer screening) and the vision centre is only open for 160 days a year, so we want to make sure its wait list doesn’t become too large.” VJH’s application was submitted after the Ministry of Health requested information regarding surgical wait lists. Shepherd isn’t sure when VJH may hear if it has received funding. Allocation of the $7.5 million and $5 million will be based on proposals from health authorities while the $12.5 million will be handed out using a population-based formula. “With this additional funding, on top of new funding we announced last spring, the health authorities are projecting we will achieve a milestone of more than 10,000 hip and knee surgeries this year — for the first time ever in B.C.,” said George Abbott, Shuswap MLA and health minister, in a release.
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