2.9 Million Canadians Waiting for Surgery, Scan, Specialist

Choose health insurance. Stethoscope, paper heart and silhouette of family on grey wooden background top view.
  • Partial FOI data shows at least 2.9 million Canadians on a waiting list for surgery, diagnostic scans or to see a specialist – the true total is likely closer to 3.7 million
  • CanadaWaits.ca will show updated figures regularly 

CALGARY, AB: Today, think tank SecondStreet.org released Freedom of Information (FOI) responses from provincial governments and territories showing that there are at least 2.9 million Canadians waiting for surgery, a diagnostic scan or appointment with a specialist. As some provinces didn’t respond with complete data, SecondStreet.org cautiously estimates the true total is at least 3.7 million. 

“It’s not just that Canada has millions on waiting lists,” said SecondStreet.org President Colin Craig. “The stories behind many of those numbers are pretty atrocious. Sadly, some patients are even dying while waiting to receive a diagnostic scan or meet with a specialist, never mind getting to the point where they’ve been put on a surgical wait list.”

The following data was provided by provincial governments and health bodies in response to Freedom of Information requests: 

(Click on each province’s name to see their data)

 

Province
Surgery
Specialist
Diagnostic
Date
British Columbia
88,804
June 13, 2022
Alberta
75,274
108,782
May 23, 2022
Saskatchewan
35,969
20,618
June 30, 2022
Manitoba
Ontario
229,423
460,153
June 6, 2022
Quebec
160,684
793,658
707,454
November 2, 2022
New Brunswick
27,249
May 4, 2022
Newfoundland
18,363
51,646
May 22 – June 8
Nova Scotia
26,246
28,171
82,834
June 24, 2022
Prince Edward Island
July 6, 2022
Yukon
556
2,064
1,000
June 24, 2022
Northwest Territories
656
934
216
July 4, 2022
Nunavut
632
3,771
30
June 2, 2022
TOTALS:
663,856
828,598
1,432,733
Grand Total:
2,925,187
 

As most provinces provided incomplete data, extrapolating the figures based on available data suggests the true total is actually closer to 3.7 million Canadians on a waiting list – roughly one in ten Canadians (see CanadaWaits.ca for calculation). This is significant as Fraser Institute data suggests wait times have never been longer.

SecondStreet.org applauds Nova Scotia, Quebec and the three territories that provided complete data and hopes other provinces will be transparent and follow suit in the future.

“The number of Canadians on a waiting list is roughly the same as the populations of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia combined,” added Craig. “Health care spending has exploded over the past few decades and yet here we are. We clearly need health reform.”

SecondStreet.org will be updating these figures periodically at CanadaWaits.ca.

 

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Prevention – reduce demand in the first place

If Canadians lived healthier lives, we could reduce demand for emergency services, orthopaedic surgeries, primary care and more. 

For instance, if you visit the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, you’ll read that “about four in ten” cancer cases are preventable. The Heart and Stroke Foundation notes that “almost 80 percent of premature heart disease and stroke can be prevented through healthy behaviours.” A similar number of Diabetes cases are also preventable. 

Many joint replacements and visits to ERs and walk-in clinics could also be avoided through healthy living. 

To be sure, not all health problems can be avoided through healthy living – everyday the system treats Canadians with genetic conditions, helps those injured in unavoidable accidents and more.  

But there is an opportunity to reduce pressure on the health care system through Canadians shifting to healthier lifestyles – better diets, more exercise, etc. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see this column. 

Partner with non-profits and for-profit clinics

European countries will partner with anyone who can help patients. 

It doesn’t matter if it’s a non-profit, a government entity or a private clinic. What matters is that patients receive quality treatment, in a timely manner and for a competitive price.  

In Canada, governments often delivery services using government-run hospitals instead of seeing if non-profit or private clinics could deliver the services more effectively. 

When governments have partnered with non-profit and private clinics, the results have often been quite good – Saskatchewan, Ontario and British Columbia are just a few examples of where partnerships have worked well. 

Canada should pursue more of these partnerships to reduce wait times and increase the volume of services provided to patients.  

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see the links above. 

Make cross border care more accessible

In Canada, citizens pay high taxes each year and we’re promised universal health care services in return. The problem is, wait times are often extremely long in our health system – sometimes patients have to wait years to see a specialist or receive surgery. 

If patients don’t want to wait long periods, they often have to reach into their own pocket and pay for treatment outside the province or country. 

Throughout the European Union, we also find universal health care systems. But a key difference is that EU patients have the right to go to other EU countries, pay for surgery and then be reimbursed by their home government. Reimbursements cover up to what the patient’s home government would have spent to provide the treatment locally. 

If Canada copied this approach, a patient waiting a year to get their hip operation could instead receive treatment next week in one of thousands of surgical clinics throughout the developed world. 

Governments benefit too as the patient is now back on their feet and avoiding complications that sometimes come with long wait times – meaning the government doesn’t have to treat those complications on top of the initial health problem. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or this shorter video. 

Legalize access to non-government providers

Canada is the only country in the world that puts up barriers, or outright bans patients from paying for health services locally. 

For instance, a patient in Toronto cannot pay for a hip operation at a private clinic in Toronto. Their only option is to wait for the government to eventually provide treatment or leave the province and pay elsewhere. 

Countries with better-performing universal health care systems do not have such bans. They allow patients a choice – use the public system or pay privately for treatment. Sweden, France, Australia and more – they all allow choice. 

Why? One reason is that allowing choice means some patients will decide to pay privately. This takes pressure off the public system. For instance, in Sweden, 87% of patients use the public system, but 13% purchase private health insurance. 

Ultimately, more choice improves access for patients. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or watch this short clip on this topic. 

Shift to funding services for patients, not bureaucracies

In Canada, most hospitals receive a cheque from the government each year and are then asked to do their best to help patients. This approach is known as “block funding”. 

Under this model, a patient walking in the door represents a drain on the hospital’s budget. Over the course of a year, hospital administrators have to make sure the budget stretches out so services are rationed. This is why you might have to wait until next year or the year after for a hip operation, knee operation, etc. 

In better-performing universal health systems, they take the opposite approach – hospitals receive money from the government each time they help a patient. If a hospital completes a knee operation, it might receive, say, $10,000. If it completes a knee operation on another patient, it receives another $10,000. 

This model incentivizes hospitals to help more patients – to help more patients with knee operations, cataract surgery, etc. This approach also incentivizes hospitals to spend money on expenses that help patients (e.g. more doctors, nurses, equipment, etc.) rather than using the money on expenses that don’t help patients (e.g. more admin staff). 

To learn more about this policy option, please watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see this post by MEI.