The province says they reduced the wait list for surgeries by more than 4,000 people over the last year.

They say the number of people removed has been larger than the number added.

Better scheduling of operating rooms and new acute care beds were some of the main reasons behind the improvement.

Yesterday, Health Minister Michelle Thompson was asked about extending hours for operations.

“What we need to do is look at our core services and look at extending hours incrementally. As our work force grows, we’ll be able to better look at our opportunities to increase hours consistently,” said Thompson after Cabinet.

The province says there were over 1,800 more surgeries done in the last fiscal year than pre-pandemic.