Cdn surgical wait times down, but still too long: report
Posted December 4, 2012 7:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Canadians are waiting an average of more than four months for a medical procedure, according to a new report.
The Fraser Institute’s 22nd annual ‘Waiting Your Turn’ report suggests the median wait time for surgical and other therapeutic treatments is 17.7 weeks. That is actually down from the 19 weeks recorded last year, but a 91 per cent jump from the 9.3 weeks recorded back in 1993.
Broken down by province, Ontario has the shortest wait time at 14.9 weeks; Quebec follows with 16.6 weeks, and BC is in third place at 17 weeks. However, the authors of the study say this is unacceptable.
“We’ve had provincial wait times reduction strategies in place now for many years,” explains Nadeem Esmail, Senior Fellow with the Fraser Institute.
“We are seeing levels of health care expenditure that are high, both historically and internationally, and yet these remarkably long waiting lists, some of the longest waiting lists in the developed world persist.”
Esmail thinks we should look to countries where wait times are dramatically lower, such as Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Japan.
“When we look at the health care policies of these countries — all of them — 100 per cent of them have private provision of universally-accessible services. One hundred per cent of them have a private parallel healthcare system.”
But what does he say to those who are against setting up a two-tier system?
“In the absence of waiting lists, the difference between a universal health care system and a private parallel health care system is hotel amenities,” claims Esmail.
“It’s certain choices you wouldn’t have in the public health care system. There are no queues to jump because these countries have, by employing competition in the private sector appropriately, eliminated queuing.”
On something of a brighter note, our province recorded the shortest wait time in Canada between a referral by a general practitioner to an appointment with a specialist, a difference of 7.2 weeks.
How do we cut wait times?
One researcher says the solution is to increase health services in the community.
Marcy Cohen with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives believes hospitals should strive for an 85 per cent occupancy rate, but are running at 97 per cent capacity instead.
“The issue is everyone in hospital. Do they need to be there? Are people in hospital that really could be cared for in the community if the community services were available?” she wonders.
“[This means] that anytime that there’s a crisis, an accident, or some kind of emergency, there is no room in the hospital; there’s no give,” she adds.
Cohen says there doesn’t necessarily need to be more money for surgical spots in the public and private care sector but instead, more investments in community health services. She believes the system could use more residential, home support, and rehabilitation centres to help free up space for other patients.
