Waiting (still) for wait-time guarantees - Health - Browse All Health Articles.: "Long wait times are the biggest impediment to health care, according to a new report by Statistics Canada.
In 2005, the median waiting time for specialized services came in at three to four weeks, remaining the same since 2003. People usually received medical care within three months.
The Stats Can study surveyed about 33,500 people, age 15 and over. Specialized services included receiving a diagnostic test, seeing a specialist or undergoing non-emergency surgery.
'There's good news and bad news in those numbers,' said Sharon Sholzberg-Gray, president and CEO of the Canadian Healthcare Association. 'In some ways it's reassuring to hear that 80 per cent of people are getting access to services within three months but the bad news is that anywhere up to 20 per cent are not.'
The report indicated that finding a doctor was not necessarily the largest barrier to health care so much as waiting to see one. While the majority of respondents receiving a specialized service did not report having difficulties, 68 per cent of those who did said waiting was the problem. Thirty two per cent said they had trouble making an appointment. "
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