If you’re on a surgical waitlist, you can expect to get a call from Alberta Health Services over the next few months. The health authority says it is calling patients in the North zone to update its records.
AHS says patients listed for surgery with plastic, vascular, orthopedic, ear/nose/throat, and otolaryngology surgeons in northern Alberta will receive an automated phone call or voicemail from the AHS Surgery Waitlist Management Team.
They’ll be asked to confirm they are the right person by calling 1-866-803-8080 and providing their health number and birthdate to confirm their identity. People are assured that if they hang up or don’t call the number back, their position on the waitlist won’t be affected.
AHS says it has a surgical recovery plan to reduce waitlists for non-urgent scheduled surgeries. It claims the first phase of this project in the Edmonton zone reduced the surgical waitlist in the pilot departments by 5.6 per cent.