Premier Andrew Furey says some of the changes government has been making in the health care system are starting to be felt on the front lines.

Furey was responding to concerns from the opposition parties that, despite many announcements and initiatives, workers in the system are not yet seeing the benefits that government has been touting.

Furey says the system is quite large, and not all of the effects are going to be felt immediately.

That said, Furey acknowledges that he still does some work in the system, and the frontline workers he has talked with are starting to see some changes.

He uses surgical wait times as an example. He says the largest number of joint replacements in the province’s history was done over the last year, which means that those patients aren’t sitting at home in pain.