\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
![\"BROOK](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/BJ-07312025JonathanGreenRotatorCuffSurgeryScar04_84db83.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBROOK JONES \/ FREE PRESS
\nJonathan Green opted to pay for surgery in Mexico after he was told he would have to wait a year for a consultation with a Manitoba surgeon about his torn rotator cuff.<\/p>\n
There are approximately a half-million specialist consultations in Manitoba annually \u2014 almost all of which are initiated by referral sent by fax or mail in a siloed system not designed for effective collaboration, says Desilets\u2019 organization, which advocates for physicians in the province.<\/p>\n
A Statistics Canada report this week shows about 60 per cent of Manitobans wait up to three months to see a medical specialist once they\u2019ve been referred by another doctor, and about seven per cent wait a year or longer. It also shows that less than half of Manitoba patients are satisfied with wait times.<\/p>\n
Retired FedEx delivery driver Jonathan Green was told last fall that he would have to wait a year for a consultation with a surgeon to look at his torn rotator cuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s going to take at least a year just to see the surgeon, God only knows how long it\u2019s going to take for them to even say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019ve got a surgery date for you,\u2019\u201d said Green, who decided to pay out of pocket and had the surgery done in Mexico last April.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad I waited to get this done here in Manitoba \u2014 and I\u2019m being quite literal when I say this \u2014 I\u2019d probably be dead before that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he reached out to former radio announcer and acquaintance Dez Daniels, who faced an excruciating wait for hip-replacement surgery and in 2022 opted to pay for the operation in Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad I waited to get this done here in Manitoba \u2014 and I\u2019m being quite literal when I say this \u2014 I\u2019d probably be dead before that happens.\u201d\u2013Jonathan Green<\/p>\n
She referred Green to that surgeon. He said he paid roughly $13,000 for the surgery, airfare and accommodations and said he hopes to recover some of that from the province.<\/p>\n
Modernizing the referral system to make it more efficient and interconnected will give specialists more time to focus on patients, improving health care and reducing waits, Desilets said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis sounds like a behind-the-scenes, IT issue but, really, it has the potential to touch so many areas of our health-care system,\u201d she said in an interview earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecialists tell us that they\u2019re using up to the equivalent of one work week on referral processing per year,\u201d she said. \u201cAny improvements in the referral and requisition processes not only stand to improve the work environment of physicians, patients are going to benefit, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having a system that\u2019s easy to navigate and reduces the administrative burden will help with physician recruitment and retention, she said.<\/p>\n
Doctors pick up the phone to call a specialist when a patient has an emergent issue, but most cases aren\u2019t emergencies, she said. Most often, a doctor writes a referral to a specialist, \u201cusually old-fashioned fax.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely people missing appointments and that\u2019s a waste of health-care resources.\u201d\u2013Dr. Nichelle Desilets<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once sent, the referral might sit in the fax machine tray or the clinician\u2019s inbox until they get to it, she said, adding machine paper jams and power failures in which the unit\u2019s memory is lost are problems, as well.<\/p>\n
When doctors request a CT scan, \u201cthere\u2019s thousands of pieces of paper coming through on that other end in the CT department that they have to manage, as well\u2026 There\u2019s multiple steps where a small unintentional slip-up could lead to that patient not getting their CT scan in the appropriate, urgent timeline,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Patient referrals by regular mail can be affected by Canada Post service disruptions and mailings sent to old addresses, Desilets said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely people missing appointments and that\u2019s a waste of health-care resources,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel really passionate about the referral and requisition improvements because I\u2019m a family doctor, so I\u2019m often sending the referrals. But, as someone who does colonoscopies and does (caesarean) sections for people who need to deliver their babies that way, I get referrals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see it from both sides. I have been contacted by my colleagues saying, \u2018Did you get my note asking for a colonoscopy on this patient?\u2019 And I will go through it and say, \u2018nope, never got it.\u2019 And so that person waited unnecessarily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Desilets said if she\u2019s referring a patient with a non-life threatening condition, she\u2019ll ask them to let her know if they haven\u2019t received a response from the specialist after three months.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil the patient gets that appointment, I don\u2019t know that that referral has been processed yet. It might still be sitting in an inbox. It might have been lost altogether,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are opportunities for large, unnecessary time lags just due to the nature of how this work is done.\u201d<\/p>\n carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Carol Sanders Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTIM SMITH \/ BRANDON SUN FILES
\nFamily physician Dr. Nichelle Desilets is president of Doctors Manitoba.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Legislature reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n