‘Catastrophic’: No clear solution from provinces as surgery backlog crisis continues
As hundreds of thousands of Canadians wait for surgery, provinces across the country have yet to outline a clear plan on how to clear the backlog.
“We’re really concerned about it because the operations that people are waiting for are necessary operations,” David Urbach, surgery department head at Women’s College Hospital and professor of surgery at the University of Toronto, told Global News.
“They’re going to be suffering for long periods of time instead of being able to enjoy a better quality of life.”
During his 22 years as a surgeon, Urbach has never seen a medical backlog like the one Canada is currently facing.
“Right now, we have hundreds of thousands of people waiting for surgery,” he said.
Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, estimates the waitlist has grown to between 225,000 to 250,000 patients. Nova Scotia Health currently has about 27,000 patients waiting for surgery.
In Quebec, the most recent data shows at least 160,000 residents waiting.
At the end of March, Canada’s health minister, Jean-Yves Duclos, said the country’s universal health-care system is “at risk” and announced a $2-billion pledge to help fix the surgery backlog.
“These delays are a burden that can be very hard to bear for the affected patients, their families and their loved ones, as well as for the health-care workers caring for them,” Duclos said at the time.
Ontario’s share of the recent one-time federal funding, announced on March 25, is $775.5 million, the province told Global News. Newfoundland and Labrador will receive approximately $27 million. Saskatchewan’s portion of the federal is roughly $62 million.
However, not a single province could tell Global News what their plans for the money are as of yet.
Ontario said it will have more details in its upcoming budget, to be released April 28, and noted that the federal money isn’t enough.
“One-time funding is not sufficient to address the challenges faced by the provincial and territorial health-care systems,” a spokesperson for the province told Global News.
In the meantime, British Columbia said it is working with regions to increase capacity, specifically this summer, but didn’t explain how.
In 2019, Alberta created a program to tackle the backlogs already bogging down its system, but that was put on hold due to the pandemic. Now, more than 70,000 Albertans are waiting on surgery.
“I think when you’re dealing with something as large and as expensive as the health-care system, when you don’t have a clear plan about what your goals are and data and accountability within the system, you’re going to end up with chaos,” Katharine Smart, president of the Canadian Medial Association, told Global News, speaking from Whitehorse, Yukon.
“I think unfortunately, that’s where we’re finding ourselves right now. These wait times are not reasonable. You have many Canadians who are feeling desperate, not clear when it’s going to be their turn and not really willing to continue to wait in a lineup that doesn’t have a clear end.”
As hundreds of thousands of Canadians wait for surgery, provinces across the country have yet to outline a clear plan on how to clear the backlog.
“We’re really concerned about it because the operations that people are waiting for are necessary operations,” David Urbach, surgery department head at Women’s College Hospital and professor of surgery at the University of Toronto, told Global News.“They’re going to be suffering for long periods of time instead of being able to enjoy a better quality of life.”
During his 22 years as a surgeon, Urbach has never seen a medical backlog like the one Canada is currently facing.
“Right now, we have hundreds of thousands of people waiting for surgery,” he said.
Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, estimates the waitlist has grown to between 225,000 to 250,000 patients. Nova Scotia Health currently has about 27,000 patients waiting for surgery.
In Quebec, the most recent data shows at least 160,000 residents waiting.
At the end of March, Canada’s health minister, Jean-Yves Duclos, said the country’s universal health-care system is “at risk” and announced a $2-billion pledge to help fix the surgery backlog.
“These delays are a burden that can be very hard to bear for the affected patients, their families and their loved ones, as well as for the health-care workers caring for them,” Duclos said at the time.
Ontario’s share of the recent one-time federal funding, announced on March 25, is $775.5 million, the province told Global News. Newfoundland and Labrador will receive approximately $27 million. Saskatchewan’s portion of the federal is roughly $62 million.
However, not a single province could tell Global News what their plans for the money are as of yet.
Ontario said it will have more details in its upcoming budget, to be released April 28, and noted that the federal money isn’t enough.
“One-time funding is not sufficient to address the challenges faced by the provincial and territorial health-care systems,” a spokesperson for the province told Global News.
In the meantime, British Columbia said it is working with regions to increase capacity, specifically this summer, but didn’t explain how.
In 2019, Alberta created a program to tackle the backlogs already bogging down its system, but that was put on hold due to the pandemic. Now, more than 70,000 Albertans are waiting on surgery.
“I think when you’re dealing with something as large and as expensive as the health-care system, when you don’t have a clear plan about what your goals are and data and accountability within the system, you’re going to end up with chaos,” Katharine Smart, president of the Canadian Medial Association, told Global News, speaking from Whitehorse, Yukon.
“I think unfortunately, that’s where we’re finding ourselves right now. These wait times are not reasonable. You have many Canadians who are feeling desperate, not clear when it’s going to be their turn and not really willing to continue to wait in a lineup that doesn’t have a clear end.”
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