Not all provinces had data available, leading the group to suggest that the true total could be close to 4 million people on waiting lists.
“Canada’s health care system was actually in a crisis before the pandemic; the pandemic made the problem worse.”
The report showed that the median wait time in 2021 was the longest recorded in the survey’s history. The figures were derived from surveying specialist physicians regarding wait times, with a median waiting time of 25.6 weeks between referral from a general practitioner and receipt of treatment. In 1993, the wait time was just 9.3 weeks, the report said.
Majority Support Using Private Clinics to Reduce Backlogs
A Leger poll commissioned by Second Street on possible health-care reform options suggests Canadians are unhappy with the current state of health care and want changes.Fourteen percent of those polled opposed the idea of inter-provincial health care funding and another 14 percent weren’t sure how they felt about it. Support for the idea was highest in Manitoba and Saskatchewan at 85 percent, and lowest in Ontario but still a majority of those polled at 69 percent.
According to Second Street, a B.C. resident can pay for private knee surgery in Alberta, and an Alberta resident can go to B.C. for private surgery, but neither of them can purchase private surgery in their own province.
Sixty-four percent of Canadians polled supported governments hiring private clinics to provide surgeries for patients to reduce backlogs in the public system, with only 20 percent saying they opposed this idea.
Roughly half of respondents said Canadians should be able to spend their own money to pay for private surgery.
Regarding more government accountability, 66 percent believe health ministers should be required to hold a press conference each year to make public the number of patients who died as a result of long waiting lists.
Second Street noted that the findings are similar to a 2020 Nanos poll it commissioned in which 81 percent of Canadians answered yes as to whether governments should track and disclose this information. A Leger poll in 2021 obtained a similar majority at 79 percent.
“This research endeavour reinforced what SecondStreet.org has observed in past public opinion research – Canadians support improving accountability in the health care system, increasing the choices available and like the idea of governments partnering with private providers to reduce waiting lists,” Craig said.
The poll asked 1,534 Canadians their thoughts on health care reform between Oct. 2 and 7. The respondents were selected from Leger’s research panel, a representative sample of the broader Canadian population.