Residents in Altona, Manitoba, could see a drop in wait times for joint operations after the Province of Manitoba reported a record 7,056 hip and knee replacement surgeries in 2025. That total — the highest annual volume on record — is part of a push to reduce a backlog that in previous years left some patients waiting many months, in some cases 12–18 months, for relief from chronic pain.
The local health authority, Southern Health–Santé Sud, expects these provincial gains to translate into faster care at regional facilities. The national benchmark for hip and knee replacements is 26 weeks (182 days); Manitoba’s surgical wait-time dashboard tracks progress toward meeting that benchmark and reports facility- and region-level wait data.
A major part of the local improvement involves the Boundary Trails Health Centre, which is set to open a $100‑million expansion in spring 2026. The new inpatient and community services space is expected to increase local surgical capacity, allowing more patients in the Altona–Winkler–Morden corridor to receive treatment closer to home instead of travelling to Winnipeg.
Health officials are also using outpatient/day-surgery models to increase throughput. The Manitoba government says nearly 70% of joint replacements are now performed as outpatient procedures, allowing many patients to go home the same day and freeing up inpatient beds — though regional rates vary as sites scale up their programs.
While the record numbers are a step forward, the province has put in place centralized scheduling to manage the workload. Manitoba’s Surgical Wait Information Management system (centralized intake/booking) can offer patients surgery dates at other facilities if wait times are shorter elsewhere, meaning an Altona resident might be offered a slot at a different hospital to get their procedure sooner.
