Canadians are waiting longer than ever to see a healthcare specialist and receive treatment in 2023, according to a recent Fraser Institute report.
The Fraser Institute polled physicians from 12 specialties and ten provinces for almost three decades.
This year, the data collected from January to June consisted of 1,269 physicians responses. The report, titled Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2023 Report, showed the results of this year’s survey.
A median wait time of 27.7 weeks between referral from a general practitioner and receipt of treatment was reported in 2023. This is longer than the 27.4 weeks reported in 2022. This year’s wait time is the longest recorded in the survey’s history and is 198% longer than the 9.3-week wait time documented in 1993.
The 27.7-week total was broken down into two segments – a referral by a general practitioner to consultation with a specialist takes 14.6 weeks, followed by consultation with a specialist and receiving treatment, which takes 13.1 weeks.
The report also revealed that the differences in wait times across provinces are substantial. Ontario reported the shortest total wait time of 21.6 weeks. Nova Scotia reported the longest wait time of 56.7 weeks, almost triple Ontario’s.
An even bigger variance was found in the difference among specialties. Patients wait the longest between a general practitioner’s referral and plastic surgery (52.4 weeks), while those waiting for radiation treatments begin treatments in 4.4 weeks.
Canadians waited 6.6 weeks for a CT scan, 12.9 weeks for an MRI scan, and 5.3 weeks for an ultrasound.
Cardiovascular surgery had a median wait time of 13.1 weeks, with general surgeries having a median wait time of 21.7 weeks.
Orthopaedic surgery and neurosurgery experienced notably lengthy wait times, with the report indicating that Canadians faced median wait times of 44.3 weeks for orthopaedic procedures and 43.5 weeks for neurosurgery.
Additionally, those requiring gynecological specialist care encountered an average wait time of 37.4 weeks in 2023.
“This survey also reveals that wait times in Canada are longer than what physicians consider to be clinically reasonable,” said the report.
Canadians were waiting 4.6 weeks longer than physicians consider clinically reasonable (8.5 weeks).
An estimated 1.8% of patients received elective treatment in another country during 2022/23, according to the survey results.
“Despite provincial strategies to reduce wait times and high levels of expenditure on health care, it is clear that patients in Canada wait too long to receive medically necessary treatment,” concluded the report.
