3.1 million Canadians on waiting lists for health care, study finds

More and more Canadians are on waiting lists for surgeries and diagnostic tests, a new study shows.

Some patients are unable to get an appointment with a specialist.

The think tank SecondStreet.org reported that the number of Canadians on waiting lists has increased by 140,000 compared to last year. More than 3.1 million Canadians are on waiting lists.

Some provinces provided incomplete data. The think tank estimates that about 5.1 million Canadians, or about one in eight Canadians, are actually on waiting lists for health care.

The average wait time for treatment in Canada in 2023 was 27.7 weeks.

This is the longest waiting time ever recorded for treatment.

In 2022, the average waiting time for treatment was 27.4 weeks, in 1993 it was 9.3 weeks, which is 198% less than in 2023.

The data is taken from a report by the Fraser Institute, whose staff surveyed 12 doctors of various specialties from ten provinces. This year, the data, collected from January to June, consisted of responses from 1,269 doctors.

The total of 27.7 weeks is divided into two segments: a referral from a general practitioner to a specialist consultation takes 14.6 weeks, and a consultation with a specialist and receiving treatment takes 13.1 weeks.

Anastasia Chupina