OUR PUBLIC PRACTICE
Same Hands. Same Standard. I Believe In Public Care.
I am a proud public surgeon with local hospital admitting privileges. I operate on both public and private patients — and the only difference is how long you wait, never the quality of your care.
Where we stand
I Stand Behind Public Healthcare.
I genuinely believe in Canada's public system. It is the foundation of care in this country, and it's how the vast majority of our patients — including our own families, friends and neighbours — receive their treatment. We are proud public surgeons first.
Because I hold local hospital admitting privileges, we can walk with our public patients through the entire journey — from clinic consultation to the operating room, the ward, and every follow-up afterwards. Offering a private option to some patients does not reduce our public commitment or our baseline public operating volumes. It simply gives another door to patients who choose it, while our public practice continues in full.
Public or private
Same surgeon. Same standard. The only difference is the wait.
The care you receive from us doesn't depend on how your surgery is funded. It depends on our training, our team, and our standards — which travel with us everywhere we operate.
Same expertise
Identical fellowship training, techniques and implants for every patient — whether your surgery is funded publicly or privately. There is no 'A team' and 'B team'.
Same quality & safety
The same standards of anaesthesia, sterile technique, implant selection and post-op protocols apply in the hospital and in a chartered surgical facility. Nothing is watered down.
Different only in timing
Private means sooner — because access is not gated by public operating-room and resource availability. Public timing is governed by system capacity, not by a difference in care.
The evidence
The reality of the wait.
Canada's national benchmark for hip and knee replacement is 26 weeks (182 days) from the day you're deemed ready to treat — a target set jointly by federal, provincial and territorial governments in 2005. The chart below shows the share of patients meeting that benchmark. Alberta is highlighted.
% meeting the 182-day benchmark
Figures shift quarterly. See CIHI's live wait-time data tables at cihi.ca/wait-times for current province-by-province numbers. Verify all figures against current CIHI data before publishing.
Demand is outpacing capacity. Nationally in 2024, hospitals performed 26% more hip replacements and 21% more knee replacements than in 2019 — yet a smaller share of patients met the six-month benchmark. More surgery is being done than ever, and the wait is still growing.
Your public journey
From referral to surgery — step by step.
Alberta measures wait time in two parts: referral → consult and consult → surgery. Both depend on operating-room and resource availability — not on how much your surgeon cares about you.
- 1
Family doctor referral
Your family physician sends a referral to a hip and knee clinic on your behalf.
- 2
Referral acknowledged & screened
The clinic acknowledges receipt within ~7 working days and screens the referral within ~14 days to determine priority.
- 3
MSK assessment
A musculoskeletal assessment (often by an advanced-practice physiotherapist) helps sort surgical from non-surgical paths.
- 4
Surgeon consultation
You meet your surgeon in clinic. Depending on volumes this is often several months after referral — this is the first measured wait.
- 5
Optimization & preparation
Bloodwork, imaging, medical optimization, prehab and education so you're at your best going in.
- 6
Surgery
Performed in a hospital or chartered surgical facility. Timing depends on operating-room and resource availability — this is the second measured wait.
- 7
Follow-up
Post-op reviews, physiotherapy and shared care back with your family physician.
While you wait
You're not alone on the list.
Public patients receive the same high-level expertise from us as anyone else. While operating-room capacity determines when we can reach you, there is a great deal that can be done in the meantime — and we want to support you through it.
Stay close to your family physician
Please keep working with your family doctor on pain and osteoarthritis management — conservative care, activity modification, weight optimization, physiotherapy, and appropriate medications. This keeps you as strong and comfortable as possible until we can reach you.
Stay active, stay optimized
Movement, strength and general health all improve your surgical result when your turn comes. Even small, consistent efforts — walking, aquafit, gentle strengthening — meaningfully protect your recovery.
An honest, gentle note.
The published evidence is clear that prolonged waiting — particularly beyond six to twelve months — is associated with meaningful decline in joint function, quality of life, and mental wellbeing. We share this not as pressure toward any particular path, but as encouragement to keep yourself as optimized as possible and to make sure you know all the options available to you.
You choose — we're with you either way
Public or private, the surgeon is the same.
Whether you wait for public surgery or choose to be treated privately, you'll receive the same surgeon, the same expertise and the same quality of care. The whole site — recovery timelines, techniques, risks and safety, patient resources — is written for you too, not just for private patients.
References
The evidence behind this page.
Editorial note: verify all figures and citations against current CIHI data before publishing. Wait-time percentages refresh quarterly and provincial comparisons will drift.
- 01.Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Wait Times for Priority Procedures in Canada, 2025. Link
- 02.CIHI. Wait times for priority procedures, 2019 to 2024: Insights into trends and contributing factors. Link
- 03.CIHI. Joint-replacement benchmark indicators — 26 weeks / 182 days from ready-to-treat to surgery. Link
- 04.Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute (ABJHI). Provincial hip and knee wait-time reporting and the two-part wait. Link
- 05.Alberta Hip & Knee surgical care path: referral acknowledged within ~7 working days and screened within ~14 days. Link
- 06.Woodhouse LJ, et al. Long wait times for knee and hip total joint replacement in Canada: an isolated health system problem, or a symptom of a larger problem? Osteoarthr Cartil Open. 2022. (Alberta wait-time history; the 'OA funnel'.) Link
- 07.Clement ND, et al. Deterioration in function, quality of life and mental health while waiting 6–12 months for hip or knee replacement. Bone & Joint Journal. 2024. Link
- 08.Systematic review & meta-analysis of presurgical waiting time (~89,996 patients). Scientific Reports. 2023. Link
Disclaimer. This page is general education about the public and private surgical pathways in Alberta and is not medical advice. It is not a review, ranking or comparison of individual surgeons or facilities. Decisions about surgery should always be made in consultation with your own physician. Wait-time figures are drawn from published sources and shift over time; please refer to CIHI and ABJHI for current data.
How to be seen publicly
Ask your family physician to refer you.
If you'd like to be seen publicly by our team, the first step is a referral from your family physician to a Alberta Hip and Knee clinic.