A public meeting was held at the Morden Legion Tuesday night where two members of the Priority Procedures Wait Times Reduction Committee (PPWTRC) spoke with a handful of locals to learn what people in the Boundary Trails catchments think about wait times for hip, knee, and cataract surgeries and MRI's.

These four procedures are referred to as "priority procedures", and they are the focus because Manitoba falls below the national benchmark for wait times for all of them.

Co-chair Dr. Michael Rachlis and co-chair Dr. Jack McPherson led the consultation which lasted over an hour as people shared their stories of waiting for the surgeries in question, one woman for over six years.

"We want to get opinions and input from those people to put together recommendations about what to do for these procedures," said Dr. McPherson.

"I was very pleased with the discussion," said Dr. Rachlis. "I thought we had a wide range of opinions and people who were working in the system and patients who had been receiving services, and, quite frankly, the level of conversation was excellent."

Drs. Rachlis and McPherson are holding similar consults in areas where the priority procedures can be performed, including Boundary Trails Health Centre.

They appreciated hearing the divergent opinions about how priority procedures should be handled.

"For many patients, the journey throughout the healthcare system is pretty bumpy," shared Dr. Rachlis. "It's not always patient friendly."

The committee's report is due on the Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen's desk Sept. 30. A report by the committee studying why emergency room wait times are so high in the province is also due for this date.

"We want to get opinions and input from those people to put together recommendations about what to do for these procedures," said Dr. McPherson, co-chair of the PPWTRC.