The newest version of the Fraser Institute’s annual survey of physicians to gauge the country’s wait times for treatment has found that the median wait time from a general practitioner’s referral until treatment by a specialist is 30 weeks for procedures across 12 medical specialties.
The report, entitled Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2024 Report, adds that there is a great deal of variation across the provinces and among specialties.
The 30-week median wait time is an increase over the 27.7 weeks reported by physicians in 2023 and 20.9 weeks reported in 2019. Notably, that time is also 222 per cent longer than the 9.3 weeks reported in 1993 when the institute first began tracking wait times.
Ontario recorded the shortest median wait time of 23.6 weeks, up from 21.6 weeks in 2023. Prince Edward Island recorded the longest median wait time of 77.4 weeks, although the survey’s authors note that data for that province should be interpreted with caution due to fewer survey responses being received compared to other provinces. Comparatively speaking, Prince Edward Island’s median wait time in 2023 was 55.2 weeks. New Brunswick reported the second longest wait time of 69.4 weeks in 2024, up from 52.6 in 2023.
Longest wait times for orthopedic surgery
The survey is based on responses from 1,973 physicians across the 12 medical specialties in 10 provinces. Wait times were longest for orthopedic surgery at 57.5 weeks and neurosurgery at 46.2 weeks. Wait times were shortest for radiation and medical oncology treatments – these were generally received within 4.5 weeks and 4.7 weeks, respectively. For diagnostic technologies, wait times were longest for CT scans where the median wait time was 8.1 weeks, MRIs, where patients waited 16.2 weeks and ultrasounds which patients waited 5.2 weeks to receive. The report also looks at all of these items by province, as well.
They say the 30-week wait breaks down to 15 weeks from referral to a specialist visit, plus another 15 weeks from the specialist’s visit until the patient receives treatment. “After seeing a specialist, Canadian patients waited 6.3 weeks longer than what physicians consider to be clinically reasonable (8.6 weeks),” the report states.
Serious consequences
“Research has repeatedly indicated that wait times for medically necessary treatment are not benign inconveniences. Wait times can, and do, have serious consequences,” they add. “The results of this year’s survey indicate that despite provincial strategies to reduce wait times and high levels of health expenditure, it is clear that patients in Canada continue to wait too long to receive medically necessary treatment.”
