Safety Matters

The Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia’s mission is
to reduce the number of people hurt or killed on the job in our province. We
are seeing steady progress in reducing the number of people that are hurt each
year, but even one injury is too many. If someone does get hurt, we are there
to help them recover.

Research shows the longer someone is away from work due to an
injury, the less likely it becomes that they will ever return their job. Waiting
for medical treatment can sometimes delay recovery. Ensuring timely access to
surgical consultations and procedures can help injured workers recover and
return to their regular lives and work more quickly.

To help injured workers get speedier access to the surgical
care they need, the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia (WCB) is
partnering with Annapolis Valley Health (AVH) to take advantage of unused capacity
to provide timely centralized surgery services.

“We need to do everything we can to help injured workers recover.
Ensuring they have timely access to surgical services can play a big part in
helping them get back to their regular lives,” says Stuart MacLean, CEO of the
Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia. “

If you are an injured worker and your family doctor
determines that you need a surgical consultation, you may be referred to the
Centralized Surgical Services Program. Any necessary travel costs for
consultations or treatment will be covered by the WCB.

This program will have no impact on the public healthcare
system. It uses existing operating room time and surgeon capacity not funded by
the public system to provide surgical care to injured workers.