Average surgical wait 17.7 weeks in Canada

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 55, No. 1, January February 2013, Page 16 News

Patients in Canada face a median wait of 17.7 weeks for surgical and other therapeutic treatments, down from 19.0 weeks in 2011, according to the 22nd annual edition of the Fraser Institute report Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada.

On a national basis, median wait times have hovered between 16 and 19 weeks since 2000, following a deterioration in wait times during the 1990s when surgical waits grew from 9.3 weeks in 1993 to 14 weeks in 1999. This year’s median wait of 17.7 weeks is 91% longer than in 1993. 

The Waiting Your Turn report, which is based on a national survey of physicians, measures the wait times between referral by a general practitioner and consultation with a specialist, the times between seeing the specialist and receiving elective treatment, and the total wait times from GP referral to elective treatment. The full report, including charts showing wait times for all provinces and medical procedures, can be viewed at www.fraserinstitute.org.

. Average surgical wait 17.7 weeks in Canada . BCMJ, Vol. 55, No. 1, January, February, 2013, Page(s) 16 - News.


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