Source: CTV.ca

Canadians who needed surgeries or other treatments in 2011 had to wait longer than they have in close to two decades, says a new report from the Fraser Institute, and the average waiting time for Quebecers has grown to the longest it’s been since 2003.

The think-tank, which has been tracking wait times since 1993, says that the median wait time for surgery in 2011 jumped to 19 weeks, from 18.2 weeks in 2010.

In Quebec the average time in 2011 grew to 19.9 weeks. The previous year patients waited 18.8 weeks, while in 2009 the average waiting time was 16.6 weeks.

Despite the growth in waiting times, Quebec patients were the third quickest in the country at getting the operations they needed.

The survey suggests the main reason for delays in Quebec was the time between seeing a specialist after getting a referral from a General Practitioner, which at 10.7 weeks is above the national average.

The wait for second step of the process — actually getting the operation — had actually decreased in Quebec from 9.9 weeks to 9.2 weeks.

Only in Ontario, B.C., and Manitoba were patients faster at moving into the operating room after an initial visit with a surgeon.

Life-threatening cases always treated quickly

Surgery is not a first-come, first-served affair.

Doctors at the Jewish General Hospital say priority is always given to life-threatening cases.

“There are patients walking around with hernias, for example, that are not symptomatic, that they’ve had for 15 years. They would like to get them repaired but they are not life threatening,” said Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg.

“They’re not as high priority as someone who has a cancer.”

Patients who have cancer are rushed into operating rooms.

Josee Paquette and Valerie Kavanaugh met in hospital, each being treated for tongue cancer.

Because they both had serious cases, each was treated in fewer than five weeks after their initial diagnosis.

“I was afraid at first that we were going to wait at least five or six months but I guess it was too serious so they had to hurry up,” said Kavanaugh

Survey showed increases across Canada

The report, called “Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada,” used survey responses from Canadian physicians to measure median waiting times.

The report measured the wait times between a family doctor referring a patient to a specialist, to the time of the patient actually receiving the treatment.

According to the report, wait times increased in both the delay between referral by a general practitioner to consultation with a specialist (rising to 9.5 weeks from 8.9 weeks in 2010), as well as the delay between a consultation with a specialist and receiving treatment (rising to 9.5 weeks from 9.3 weeks in 2010).

Mark Rovere, Fraser Institute associate director of health policy research and co-author of the report, says despite increases in government health spending, Canadians are still waiting too long to access medically necessary treatment.

He says waiting four-and-a-half months, on average, to receive surgical care prolongs a patient’s pain and suffering.

“It’s time for policy makers to embrace sensible reforms that have worked in other industrialized countries with universal-access health care systems,” Rovere said.

OECD singles out Canada

Last month, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said wait times in Canada were the highest among 11 developed countries it surveyed. It said that in 2010, 59 per cent of respondents reported waiting four weeks or more to see a specialist, and 25 per cent waited four months or more for elective surgery.

But earlier this year, the Wait Time Alliance, a consortium of national doctors’ group, said the provinces and territories deserve a B grade for their efforts to reduce wait times for certain types of medical care.

The group said Canadian hospitals have managed to reduce wait times in five priority areas: cancer care, heart procedures, diagnostic imaging, joint replacement and sight restoration.

However, it also pointed out that one in six hospital beds are taken up by so-called “bed blockers” — patients who would be better cared for in other facilities. These bed blockers are part of the reason ill patients often wait months for elective or scheduled surgeries, the report concluded.

According to Monday’s Fraser Institute report, Ontario has the shortest total wait time among all provinces, at 14.3 weeks, though that’s up from 14.0 weeks in 2010.

British Columbia has the second-shortest total wait at 19.3 weeks, up from 18.8 weeks in 2010. Prince Edward Island recorded the longest wait time at 43.9 weeks, but the report authors note that the number of survey responses from the province was lower than most others, which may have influenced the findings.

Among the various specialties, the shortest total waits were for medical oncology (4.2 weeks) and elective cardiovascular surgery (10.3 weeks). Conversely, patients waited longest for orthopedic surgery (39.1 weeks), and neurosurgery (38.3 weeks).

This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, and vetted for appropriateness and accuracy.