He points to European countries with universal health care systems and some involvement of the private sector as examples of how to reduce wait times.
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Meanwhile, the Wait Time Alliance, made of of major doctor’s associations across the country, got similar findings analyzing data from provincial health ministries.
It suggested a lack of suitable living arrangements for seniors – such as long-term care beds or home care – is putting a great strain on the health system, leading to overcrowded hospitals and longer wait times. The province received a grade of “F” meaning less than half of patients were treated within the benchmark 14 day period.
New in 2015, the report card draws special attention to the issue of timely access to care for elderly Canadians and also looks at wait times for those populations falling under federal jurisdiction (First Nations, refugees, veterans, Canadian Forces and inmates in federal prisons). In Alberta wait times average 21 weeks, from referral by a family doctor to a specialist-to treatment.
The same report found the longest average referral-to-treatment wait times in Canada are for orthopaedic surgery (35.7 weeks) and neurosurgery (27.6 weeks), and that those treatments require a wait of approximately 15 weeks for a referral to a specialist.
The Fraser Institute report tallies up the median wait times province by province.
And it’s no better than past year, Fraser says.
Both surveys say Saskatchewan and Ontario offer the shortest wait times, while the longest are in Atlantic Canada.
– elective cardiovascular surgeries: 9.9 weeks.
“Across Canada, wait times have stabilized, but they have stabilized at a very high level”, Mr. Barua said. “They can result in pain and suffering for patients, contribute to lost productivity at work, decreased quality of life, and in the worst cases, disability and death”, Barua said.
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On a somewhat better note, patients face much shorter referral-to-treatment wait times, relative to other treatments, for radiation oncology (4.1 weeks) and medical oncology (4.5 weeks) – specialties involved in the treatment of cancer.
