Wait times for specialized medical care have doubled since 1993: Fraser Institute

The median time a Canadian patient waits for elective specialized medical treatment has more than doubled over the last 23 years to a whopping 20 weeks, a new study suggests.

The conservative-leaning Fraser Institute says that a Canadian patient seeking treatment waited less than four weeks for a referral to a specialist, and then less than six weeks before receiving treatment for an illness, when the organization began tracking wait times in 1993.

Fast forward to 2016, and Canadian patients wait a median of more than nine weeks for a referral, and then nearly eleven more weeks before treatment starts.

Of Canada’s 10 provinces, Ontario’s wait time decline over the last two decades is less than all others.

In 2016, Ontario patients waited seven weeks from seeing their family doctor to seeing a specialist, and then a median of eight more weeks before treatment began.

Compare that to New Brunswick, where patients wait a median time of 39 weeks — nine whole months — before receiving specialized medical care.

“The total waiting time for elective medical treatment across the provinces is the longest ever recorded in the history of this survey,” the authors write. “Even if one debates the reliability of waiting list data, this survey also reveals that wait times in Canada are longer than what physicians consider to be clinically reasonable.

There is also great disparity in wait times comparing different medical specialties.

Patients requiring cancer treatment wait a median time of four weeks for radiation treatment and slightly less than that for chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, Canadian patients seeking orthopedic surgery wait 38 weeks, and neurosurgery patients wait a median time of 47 weeks.

The report’s authors argue waiting for medical care is much more than an inconvenience.

“Wait times can, and do, have serious consequences such as increased pain, suffering, and mental anguish,” the report’s authors write. “In certain instances, they can also result in poorer medical outcomes — transforming potentially reversible illnesses or injuries into chronic, irreversible conditions, or even permanent disabilities.”

The Canadian Medical Association blames the increasing wait times on seniors taking up space in hospitals when they would be better served elsewhere.

“Long wait times are usually a symptom of poor health system performance or poor coordination between systems that need to be addressed.”

“Alternate-level-of-care (ALC) is a key example where patients (the majority of whom are seniors) occupy acute care hospital beds while waiting for more appropriate care such as at home, in the community or in residential settings.”

The Fraser Institute survey also found that approximately 1.4 per cent of Canadian patients in 2015-2016 opted to seek medical care in another country.

The report’s authors also estimate that 973,505 Canadians waited for specialized medical treatment at some point in 2016.

The data was compiled from questionnaires completed by 2,357 medical specialists throughout the country. Approximately 11,390 questionnaires were mailed out, representing a response rate of 21 per cent.