Waiting Your Turn: Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada (10th Edition)
by Martin Zelder with Greg Wilson
Conclusion
The 2000 Waiting Your Turn survey indicates that protracted and growing waiting for health services in Canada is a reality. Even if one debates the reliability of waiting-list data, this survey reveals that specialists feel their patients are waiting too long to receive treatment. Furthermore, a 1996 national survey conducted by the College of Family Physicians of Canada showed that general practitioners were also concerned about the effects of waiting on the health of their patients (College of Family Physicians of Canada, 1996). Almost 70 percent of family physicians felt that the waiting times being experienced by their patients were not acceptable.
Patients would also prefer earlier treatment, according to this year's survey data. On average, in all specialties, only 8.3 percent of patients are on waiting lists because they requested a delay or postponement of their treatment. The responses range from a low of 2.3 percent of cardiovascular surgery patients requesting a delay of treatment, to a high of 13.5 percent of gynaecology 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 except gynaecology and plastic surgery. Radiation oncology patients are the most anxious to receive treatment, with 86 percent of patients willing to receive their treatment within the week. Cardiovascular surgery patients are the next most anxious: 78 percent of these patients were willing to have their surgery or treatment within the week.
Yet, the disturbing trend of growing waiting times in most provinces, documented here, implies that these expectant patients are increasingly likely to be disappointed. Even more discouraging is the evidence presented here that provinces that spend more on health care are not rewarded with shorter waiting lists. This means that under the current regime—first-dollar coverage with use limited by waiting, and crucial medical resources priced and allocated by governments—prospects for improvement are dim. Only substantial reform of that regime is likely to alleviate the medical system's most curable disease—protracted waiting for care, and its tragic progeny.
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Chart 8: Waiting for Technology; |
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Computerized Tomography |
Magentic Resonance Imaging |
Ultrasound |
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|
1999 |
1998 |
1999 |
1998 |
1999 |
1998 |
|
|
British Columbia |
6.0 |
5.9 |
16.0 |
12.3 |
2.0 |
2.3 |
|
Alberta |
7.0 |
6.1 |
18.0 |
17.0 |
3.0 |
2.4 |
|
Saskatchewan |
7.0 |
4.9 |
13.5 |
16.6 |
1.5 |
4.0 |
|
Manitoba |
5.3 |
5.9 |
8.0 |
16.8 |
7.0 |
8.8 |
|
Ontario |
4.0 |
4.4 |
12.0 |
11.0 |
2.0 |
1.7 |
|
Quebec |
4.0 |
4.2 |
12.0 |
9.1 |
4.0 |
3.8 |
|
New Brunswick |
3.0 |
3.8 |
9.0 |
8.3 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
|
Nova Scotia |
3.5 |
6.4 |
10.0 |
11.5 |
2.5 |
3.8 |
|
Prince Edward Island |
8.0 |
3.4 |
14.0 |
7.3 |
4.8 |
2.4 |
|
Newfoundland |
6.0 |
7.1 |
17.0 |
0.7 |
5.5 |
4.6 |
|
Canada |
5.0 |
4.7 |
12.0 |
11.4 |
2.5 |
2.9 |
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Source: The Fraser Institute, annual waiting list survey, 1999 and 2000. |
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