Government says it will implement all recommendations made by the Provincial Surgical Task Force to help reduce surgical wait times in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Tom Osborne, Minister of Health and Community services, made the announcement today during the latest health care action update.

Established in 2022, the task force has delivered its report, with 32 recommendations for the Department of Health and Community Services to reduce the surgical backlog in the province.

Recommendations include developing a centralized list of available operating rooms across the province; repurposing under-used beds in personal care and long-term care homes for alternate level of care and non-surgical patients who are occupying surgical beds in acute care hospitals; and exploring and implementing the use of ambulatory surgery centres that are focused on provincial same-day surgical care.

Some of the recommendations have already been implemented. They include allowing short stays in personal care homes to free up bed capacity in acute care homes. As well, NL Health Services will be adding a dedicated project manager to oversee the implementation of the task force’s recommendations. The department anticipates the remaining recommendations to begin being implemented this fall.