Conclusion

The 1997 “Waiting Your Turn” survey indicates that the waiting list situation has deteriorated since 1995; waiting for health services in Canada is a reality. On average, in all specialties, less than 10 percent of patients are on waiting lists because they requested a delay or postponement of their treatment. The responses range from a low of 1.9 percent of internal medicine patients requesting a delay of treatment, to a high of 9.9 percent of medical oncology patients requesting a delay of treatment. Conversely, the percentage of patients who would have their surgeries within the week if there were an operating room available is greater than 50 percent in all specialties. Cardiovascular surgery patients are the most anxious to receive treatment, with 90 percent of patients willing to receive their treatment within the week. Internal medicine and radiation oncology patients are the next most anxious, with 88.5 and 84.7 percent of these patients willing to have their surgery or treatment within the week respectively.

As well, even if one debates the reliability of waiting list data, our survey reveals that specialists feel their patients are waiting too long to receive treatment. A recent national survey by the College of Family Physicians of Canada shows that general practitioners are also concerned about the effects of waiting on the health of their patients.²⁷ Between 70 and 80 percent of family physicians cited waiting times to see a specialist, hospital waiting lists, and waits for diagnostic tests as reasons why they were having to spend more time “fighting for the care their patients need”²⁸ than they did 5 years ago. Almost 70 percent of family physicians felt that the waiting times being experienced by their patients were not acceptable.

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Last Modified: Wednesday, October 20, 1999.