Recovery for B.C.’s health-care sector appeared elusive last year.
Despite ongoing health-care spending hikes in the province, the number of weeks a British Columbian has to wait for surgery keeps rising.
According to the Fraser Institute’s 2010 waiting times report, B.C. residents have to wait, on average, nearly 11 weeks to receive treatment after an appointment with a specialist. That’s up from 9.2 weeks in 2009 and 9.9 weeks in 2008. The figures don’t include the additional 8.2 weeks on average that B.C. residents have to wait for an appointment with a specialist after a referral from a general practitioner or family doctor.
According to the 2010 B.C. budget, health care’s $41.9 billion consumes 41.7% of this year’s provincial spending. That’s up from $30.7 billion in 2004-05. Analysts say waiting times affect economic productivity. A 2008 report for the Canadian Medical Association estimated that surgery waiting times for joint replacement, cataracts, coronary artery bypass grafts and MRI scans alone resulted in a loss of $14.8 billion in economic output across the country in 2007. Despite lengthening waiting times, B.C. fares better than many other provinces.
Those with longer waiting times include Saskatchewan (19.7 weeks), Nova Scotia (15.5 weeks), Newfoundland (14.4 weeks) and Alberta (12.2 weeks).
Ontario (6.2 weeks) has the shortest waiting times, followed by Manitoba (8.9 weeks), New Brunswick (9.0 weeks) and Quebec (9.9 weeks).
- Replacing the natural lens of an eye that’s gone opaque
Wait list: 13,778 patients
Median wait time: 16 weeks*
50% of cases done within 8 weeks
90% of cases done within 25 weeks
- Repairing weakened abdominal muscles
Wait list: 4,201 patients
Median wait time: 12 weeks*
50% of cases done within 8.1 weeks
90% of cases done within 36.1 weeks
- Removal of tonsils
Wait list: 661 patients
Median wait time: 26 weeks*
50% of cases done within 16.3 weeks
90% of cases done within 53.7 weeks
- Surgical procedures on the hand
Wait list: 823 patients
Median wait time: 22 weeks*
50% of cases done within 7.4 weeks
90% of cases done within 30.9 weeks
- Partial or total knee joint replacement
Wait list: 3,892 patients
Median wait time: 24 weeks*
50% of cases done within 14.9 weeks
90% of cases done within 34.9 weeks
- * As of January 31, 2011 from Ministry of Health
- ** Fraser Institute