B.C.'s Island Health buys private clinics to perform thousands more surgeries per year

Island Health is taking over the leases and purchasing the surgical equipment at surgical centres in Victoria and Nanaimo. The facilities will transfer to Island Health ownership from their current operator, Surgical Centres Inc. (SCI) The health authority estimates it’ll be able to perform 2,300 more surgeries and 2,300 more endoscopies per year because of the deal. Currently, the two surgical centres perform low-complexity procedures such as plastic, general, orthopedics, urology, vascular, pediatric dental, endoscopy and cataract surgery that require a hospital stay of less than 24 hours. Island Health intends to offer a broader range of surgical services at the sites once the transition is complete. In Sask. when SCI's contract was renewed in 2020, provincial assessments showed privately delivered day and plastic surgeries were 35% less expensive. The health ministry also found orthopedic day surgeries were 45% less expensive when delivered privately.