Patients appear to be patient, survey finds

PriceWaterhouseCoopers recently asked a representative sample of Canadians how long they had waited to see a doctor or to have a medical procedure performed. Waiting times were shortest for appointments with general practitioners and family physicians, with most respondents (75.9%) waiting a week or less, and only 3.5% waiting longer than a month. Waiting times were also fairly short for nonemergency surgery or other surgical procedures, with 69.2% of respondents waiting no longer than a week, and only 11.9% waiting more than a month. FIGURE

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Among those who had special medical tests, 50.3% waited a week or less and 21.6% waited longer than a month. Waiting times were longest for appointments with specialists, with only 28.1% of respondents waiting a week or less, while more than one-third (36.9%) waited more than a month.

Although more than half of the respondents (52.3%) said waiting times for medical services are longer compared with 5 years ago, the majority (90.3%) stated current waiting times for GP/FPs are acceptable. Most of the respondents also said that longer waiting times to see specialists and for special medical tests (such as CT or MRI scans) were acceptable (83% and 86%).

One-quarter (25.1%) identified access to specialists as the medical service most in need of shorter waiting times, while 18.4% said waiting times for special medical tests could make that claim. Only 9.9% said they needed quicker access to GP/FPs. The survey was released in October and involved medical contacts made by patients in the previous year.