Wait Times for Treatment Increase
Prince George, B.C.- The Fraser Institute has issued a new report which indicates patients having elective surgery are waiting longer than ever to have the procedures done.
Based on interviews with specialists in 12 medical specialties in 10 provinces, the report “Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada” indicates that nationally, the median wait time between being referred by a General Practitioner to treatment by a specialist has increased to 20 weeks this year, compared to 18.3 weeks in 2015.
The report also indicates it is taking longer to get that first consultation with a specialist. The wait time was 8.5 weeks last year, and this year it has grown to 9.4 weeks.
The wait times vary among Provinces with Ontario patients having the shortest wait time to treatment at 15.6 weeks, and New Brunswick facing the longest at 38.8.
In B.C. the wait time from GP referral to treatment by a specialist is listed at 25.2 weeks
GP Referral to Specialist Treatment Median wait Times By Province:
- New Brunswick 38.8
- Nova Scotia 34.8
- P.E.I 31.4
- Nfld/Labrador 26.
- B.C. 25*
- Alberta 22.9
- Manitoba 20.6
- Quebec 18.9
- Saskatchewan 16.6
- Ontario 15.6
*While the BC Ministry of Health does have a website that outlines the most current wait times for elective surgery in this Province in specific Health Authority regions, that website was not available as this story was being written. The site is “down for maintenance” so immediate numbers for the Northern Health region are not available. A follow up story will be written when those numbers become available.
The Fraser Institute’s report also notes wait times differ greatly depending on the area of specialty. The median wait time for medical oncology (cancer) treatment is 3.7 weeks, followed by radiation treatment which has a wait time of 4.1 weeks.
Comments
These must be best case figures?? 6 months to see Orthopedic surgeon in PG and 47 weeks after that for hip replacement surgery, so I really wonder how these figures are derived??
I agree. Out of the last 5 people that I personally know that went for joint replacements, only one got it done within a year. Wait times just for consultation with a specialist are commonly 8-16 months unless you eant to drive to Kelowna or the coast.
Many hositals are so underfunded that entire sections of a hospital will sit empty while they are putting patients out in hallways in the active wards. Our health care system is a joke. I really feel for the front line staff as they are trying to work within a system that is failing the very people that need their care. Our provincial health care system requires a complete overhaul.
The first paragraph talks about wait times for “elective” surgery. If you want your elective surgery faster, there are opportunities to pay for it yourself and jump to the front of the line.
There are a couple of private clinics in Prince George that if your willing to spend the money you can get elective surgery done in short order.
That being said if you use the private clinics the BC medical system will not pay for your recovery costs and medicines it will all be on your own dime
Just think of Paul Ramsey and the NDP and what he did to our health care in this town. And how much better they have it in vancouver. Some people have short memories.
Oh, please! Paul Ramsey and the NDP started the planning for an updated and expanded hospital. If you actually tried to use some of the other hospitals in this province you would see that PG is not the worst, by far. Compare it with Nanaimo and Duncan for instance. A large part of the problem with health care in BC is that ever since they promised that health care would be when and where you need it, the provincial Liberal government under Campbell and Clarke have systematically downgraded hospitals into treatment centres, removing ALL the beds and no longer taking patients, such as Ladysmith. They have also systematically deliberately underfunded health care so that features available under the NDP are not longer valid. their so-called “fair” pharmacare strategy being a typical example – reduce benefits and make the patient pay more, and more, and more. A decade and a half of that kind of systematic bungling has brought us to where we are today. Remember that the Liberals have controlled health care in this province during that time and they have had plenty of time to resolve the issues being complained about. They do not want to, that is the fundamental problem. And why are we still being taxed extra for MSP payments to fund health care. Why is BC a standalone province when all the others fund health care from general revenue. So we can be gouged by our Liberal friends, of course.
Oh, please! I haven’t seen the “Multiplex” filled up SRO for healthcare since the NDP left office. Must have slipped your mind – June 22, 2000 – the election to usher in the Liberals was May 16, 2001 almost a full year later.
Christy and the Libs will soon turn long wait times into a good news story.
After retirement the gov’t plan is to just let people die while waiting for life saving surgery. Their thought is it saves the system money.
LOL, only 20% of doctors responded to the Fraser Institute’s survey on surgery wait times, but I guess that is something they forgot to mention.
ht tp://www.cbc.ca/news/health/fraser-institute-wait-time-survey-critique-1.3867927
Meanwhile the following description, for most all of the Fraser Institute’s “studies” and “reports”, remains valid!
ht tps://twitter.com/lhubich/status/519690462639058944
Thank God. If the other 80% spent time replying to these surveys, the wait times would be even longer!
FYI I had my hip replaced in 2014… it took 10 months to see the surgeon then another 17 months till the operation.. best thing I ever did :)
A friend just had hip replacement surgery. Was up and walking the same day. It is just local sedative and a tiny incision, cost is 16 g notes in the states but he says worth every penny
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