{"id":1771973,"date":"2022-12-12T06:07:10","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T11:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1771973"},"modified":"2022-12-12T07:18:24","modified_gmt":"2022-12-12T12:18:24","slug":"wait-times-for-specialists-surgery-in-canadas-government-run-healthcare-system-the-highest-in-nearly-30-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wait-times-for-specialists-surgery-in-canadas-government-run-healthcare-system-the-highest-in-nearly-30-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Wait Times for Specialists, Surgery in Canada\u2019s Government Run Healthcare System the Highest in Nearly 30 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwait-times-for-specialists-surgery-in-canadas-government-run-healthcare-system-the-highest-in-nearly-30-years%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1771973&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Canadians are now waiting longer than ever before if they need to see a specialist, obtain diagnostic procedures, or undergo surgery, according to a new survey.<\/p>\n<p>This year, an estimated 1,228,047 Canadians are waiting for procedures in 10 provinces. This is roughly 3.2 percent of the country\u2019s population, assuming each person is only waiting for one medical treatment.<\/p>\n<p>The Fraser Institute says that in the nearly 30 years it has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fraserinstitute.org\/sites\/default\/files\/waiting-your-turn-2022.pdf\">documenting<\/a> how long it takes for patients to receive necessary medical treatment, this year\u2019s wait time of 27.4 weeks is the longest.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Serious Consequences\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The think tank\u2019s 2022 report found that the wait time this year is 195 percent longer than the median waiting time of 9.3 weeks in 1993, longer than the wait time of 25.6 weeks in 2021, and longer than the wait time of\u00a020.9 weeks in 2019, the year before COVID.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWaiting for treatment has become a defining characteristic of Canadian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-health-care\">health care<\/a>,\u201d said the report, \u201cWaiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWait times can, and do, have serious consequences such as increased pain, suffering, and mental anguish. In certain instances, they can also result in poorer medical outcomes\u2014 transforming potentially reversible illnesses or injuries into chronic, irreversible conditions, or even permanent disabilities,\u201d write authors Mackenzie Moir and Bacchus Barua.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn many instances, patients may also have to forgo their wages while they wait for treatment, resulting in an economic cost to the individuals themselves and the economy in general.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4916973\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/12\/11\/waiting-your-turn-2022-national.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-4916973\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/waiting-your-turn-2022-national-600x480-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"480\"   style=\"display:none\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4916973\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/waiting-your-turn-2022-national-600x480-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"480\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Fraser Institute\u2019s \u201cWaiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2022\u201d report. (Fraser Institute Handout)<\/figure>\n<p>Those who need a computed tomography (CT scan) can expect to wait 5.4 weeks this year. The wait for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is almost double, at 10.6 weeks, while the wait for an ultrasound is 4.9 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fraserinstitute.org\/studies\/waiting-your-turn-wait-times-for-health-care-in-canada-2022\">report<\/a> collected data from Jan. 10 to Sept. 15\u2014a longer period of time than preceding years\u2014and surveyed specialist physicians across 10 provinces, from 12 specialties, to find the median waiting time between referral from a family doctor or general practitioner and specialists\u2019 appointments, or diagnostic\/surgical treatment.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers received fewer responses than in previous years.<\/p>\n<p>Across the country, wait times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fraserinstitute.org\/sites\/default\/files\/waiting-your-turn-2022-execsumm.pdf\">vary<\/a> substantially by province. At 20.3 weeks, Ontario has the shortest wait time reported, while Prince Edward Island has the longest, at 64.7 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The wait time to see a specialist has increased in seven provinces since 2021, but Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec patients waited less time this year than last.<\/p>\n<p>The type of care patients need also determines wait times. Patients undergoing radiation treatments wait 3.9 weeks, while those who need a neurosurgical procedure wait the longest, more than a year, at 58.9 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>For those who need elective cardiovascular surgery, the wait time is 16.4 weeks, while plastic surgery patients wait 58.1 weeks, and orthopedic surgery patients wait 48.4 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding the length of time it took to see a specialist after receiving a referral from a GP, the wait this year was 12.6 weeks, 242 percent longer than in 1993, when it was just 3.7 weeks. The shortest wait to see a specialist was in Ontario at 10.1 weeks, while the longest was in Prince Edward Island at 41.7 weeks.<\/p>\n<h2>Longer Than Clinically \u2018Reasonable\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The wait isn\u2019t over there, though. The report also documents the wait time from when the patient consults with the specialist, to when treatment is received. The waiting time in this segment was 14.8 weeks this year, 164 percent longer than in 1993 when it was 5.6 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>This wait time is also longer than the 8.1 weeks that physicians consider to be clinically \u201creasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Specialists were surveyed as to what they regard to be clinically \u201creasonable\u201d waiting times, from consultation with the specialist to actual treatment. Of 109 categories considered, actual waiting time exceeds the \u201creasonable\u201d wait time 83 percent of the time.<\/p>\n<p>For plastic surgery patients, the actual waiting time is 20.7 weeks longer than what is considered to be \u201creasonable\u201d by specialists.<\/p>\n<p>The shortest time between specialist and treatment was in Ontario at 10.2 weeks, while the longest was in Manitoba at 25.4 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Physicians reported that there are only roughly 11 percent of patients who are on a waiting list by choice, because they needed to postpone or delay treatment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-marnie-cathcart\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/MarnieCathcart_WEB.jpg\" alt=\"Marnie Cathcart\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Marnie Cathcart is a reporter based in Edmonton.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canadians are now waiting longer than ever before if they need to see a specialist, obtain diagnostic procedures, or undergo surgery, according to a new survey.This year, an estimated 1,228,047<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1771976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[5458,8004,5045,4606,3819,8002,8003,4126,8005],"class_list":["post-1771973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-bongino","tag-canadas","tag-government","tag-healthcare","tag-report","tag-specialists","tag-surgery","tag-times","tag-wait"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1771973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1771976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1771973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1771973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1771973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}