Patients and their family doctor or nurse practitioner (NP) can find information on all surgeons who perform surgeries in hospital operating rooms in Saskatchewan, including each surgeon's:

• wait time for a referral
• wait time for surgery
• procedures performed
• number of cases waiting
• percentage of cases completed within a target time frame

The Directory also shows whether a surgeon provides services in more than one location and whether they will see patients through Telehealth videoconferencing. Patients and doctors can identify a preferred surgeon based on the factors most important to the patient.

To see a specialist, patients still need a referral from their family doctor or nurse practitioner. We recommend that you talk to your doctor or NP about the information, and together identify your most appropriate surgical option.

The Specialist Directory shows a patient their options, shows which surgeons have the shortest wait time, and helps patients choose a surgeon based on what's important to them. Some may prefer to wait for a particular surgeon, while others may want the fastest possible service, and be willing to travel to another location for surgery.

The Directory shows up-to-date listings of all practicing surgeons, which is valuable for all doctors/NPs, but particularly those who are new to the province. The site also identifies new surgeons, which ensures that those making referrals are aware of all of the referral options. They can use the wait time information to find the timeliest option for patients most in need. The Directory can also help ensure that patients are referred to surgeons who can provide the procedure required.

Over time, it could significantly reduce wait times because patients will understand that they have a choice to see qualified Saskatchewan surgeons with shorter wait times. Most people waiting more than 18 months for surgery in Saskatchewan are distributed among relatively few surgeons who are in high demand. They may wait two to three times longer than someone referred to an equally qualified surgeon. Patients who are willing to consider alternatives in their nearest surgical centre and those willing to travel may be able to reduce the time they wait for surgery.

The Directory displays all surgeries done in Saskatchewan hospital operating rooms. However, some surgeries are performed outside an operating room in ambulatory care settings, so they would not be listed in the Directory. Colonoscopies or endoscopies are examples of procedures that may be done in operating rooms in smaller health regions, but are likely ambulatory procedures in larger health regions.

Wait times vary for several reasons, including the health and circumstances of an individual patient. Other factors include:
• which specialist a patient is referred to;
• the capacity of a hospital or health region to do the procedure; and
• how busy the specialists are in the community.

A patient's wait time starts as soon as their surgeon books the surgery in a health region.

A patient's wait time ends the day the surgery has been completed.

All surgeons' wait times for surgery are included. This is the time from when a patient consults a surgeon and a booking is made for surgery until the procedure is performed.

However, referral wait time information - the wait between when a referral is made and the time the patient sees the surgeon - is provided voluntarily by surgeons, and some have not yet supplied it.

Yes. The Specialist Directory shows patients all of their referral options based on their preference of shortest wait time, location, or surgeon, in their own health region or any other Saskatchewan health region. Any Saskatchewan resident may travel to a different Saskatchewan health region to receive surgical treatment. The Directory now allows people to select any or all locations to which they are prepared to travel for surgery.

The Specialist Directory identifies some pooled referral groups. They use a system which assigns a patient to the next available qualified surgeon within a group practice or specialty. The main goal is to reduce patient wait times. Patients can still choose to be referred to a specific surgeon, but they need to know they may wait longer to be seen.

No. The Specialist Directory uses real wait time data from Saskatchewan's Surgical Patient Registry, but does not publish any personal patient information.

No. The Directory does not include:
• emergency cases (eg. emergency appendix removal);
• procedures done in clinics or ambulatory care units; or
• procedures done by surgeons who have performed fewer than five of those particular procedures in the past year.

Non-surgical specialists will be added to the Specialist Directory in the future. Our first priority is to make this surgical wait time information as useful and interactive as possible.