GOLDSTEIN: Medical wait times in Canada are now the longest ever recorded

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Medical wait times for patients seeking treatment across Canada are now the longest on record, according to a new report by the Fraser Institute.

The annual study, which surveyed almost 2,000 physicians across 12 medical specialties in 10 provinces, found that the median wait time for patients this year was 30 weeks from referral by a general practitioner, to consultation with a specialist, to treatment.

That’s an increase from 27.7 weeks in 2023 and is 222% longer than the 9.3 weeks recorded in 1993, the first year the fiscally conservative think tank began tracking data on medical wait times.

“While most Canadians understand that wait times are a major problem, we’ve now reached an unprecedented and unfortunate milestone for delayed access to care,” said Bacchus Barua, co-author of the study, “Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada 2024.”

The 30-week wait time in receiving medical treatment has two components — 15 weeks from the time a general practitioner refers a patient to a specialist until they are seen by the specialist, plus another 15 weeks following the consultation, before treatment begins.

Among the various specialties, the shortest total wait times were for radiation oncology (4.5 weeks), medical oncology (4.7 weeks) and elective cardiovascular surgery (12.8 weeks). Patients waited the longest for orthopedic surgery (57.5 weeks), neurosurgery (46.2 weeks), and plastic surgery (41.4 weeks).

For diagnostic technologies (often needed before treatment can begin, median wait times were longest for MRIs (16.2 weeks), CT scans (8.1 weeks) and ultrasounds (5.2 weeks).

According to the study, patients were waiting for over 1.5 million medical procedures across Canada in 2024.

Physicians also reported that the 15-week median wait time after a patient consults with a specialist, until the patient receives treatment, is 6.3 weeks longer than the 8.6 weeks doctors consider reasonable for the best medical outcomes.

“Long wait times can result in increased suffering for patients, lost productivity at work, a decreased quality of life and, in the worst cases, disability or death,” said study co-author Mackenzie Moir.

The report estimates that across Canada’s 10 provinces this year, patients are waiting for more than 1.5 million medical procedures.

Ontario recorded the shortest wait times among the provinces at 23.6 weeks, followed in ascending order by Quebec (28.9 weeks); British Columbia (29.5 weeks); Saskatchewan (37.2 weeks); Manitoba (37.9 weeks); Alberta (38.4 weeks); Nova Scotia (39.1 weeks); Newfoundland and Labrador (43.2 weeks); New Brunswick (69.4 weeks) and Prince Edward Island (77.4 weeks).

(The study noted that the wait times for New Brunswick and P.E.I. should be interpreted with caution because of the low response rate.)

A Fraser Institute study released last month reported that among nine comparable industrialized countries with universal health care that are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada ranked in eighth place, or second-worst, on wait times, with patients waiting more than a month to see a specialist (65.2%) and in ninth place, or worst, for patients waiting two months or more for non-emergency surgery (58.3%).

Canada ranked 28th out of 30 developed countries in the availability of doctors, 25th for hospital beds, 25th for psychiatric beds, 27th out of 31 for the number of MRI machines per million people and 28th for CT scanners.

Meanwhile, Canadians pay the fourth-highest amount for medical care among 31 comparable industrialized countries with universal health care as a percentage of GDP (11.5%) and ninth-highest in spending per person (US$7,035 in 2022).