Canadians faced longest ever health-care wait times in 2024, study finds

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Posted on 12/19/2024 3:11:28 PM PST by grundle

Canadians waited longer than ever for medical treatment in 2024, says the Fraser Institute.

This year’s edition of its annual survey of physicians from across Canada reports a median wait time of 30 weeks from referral by a family doctor to consultation with a specialist, and then from the consultation to actual treatment.

The 30-week wait is the longest ever recorded by the Institute — longer than the 27.7 weeks in 2023, 20.9 weeks in pre-pandemic 2019, and 222 per cent longer than the 9.3 weeks in 1993, when it began tracking wait times.

“While most Canadians understand that wait times are a major problem, we’ve now reached an unprecedented and unfortunate milestone for delayed access to care,” said Bacchus Barua, director of health policy studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of “Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2024.”

The independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank released the new survey Thursday.

“Long wait times can result in increased suffering for patients, lost productivity at work, a decreased quality of life, and in the worst cases, disability or death,” said Mackenzie Moir, senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute and study co-author.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...

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1 posted on 12/19/2024 3:11:28 PM PST by grundle

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