Wait Times in Canada
The 10 Year Plan outlines strategic investments directed toward reducing waiting times for access to care, especially for cancer, heart, diagnostic imaging, joint replacement and sight restoration services. To support the reduction of wait times, the Federal Government committed to investing $4.5 billion over the next six years, beginning in 2004-05, in the Wait Times Reduction Fund.
The Wait Times Reduction Fund will augment existing provincial and territorial investments and assist jurisdictions in their diverse initiatives to reduce wait times. This Fund will primarily be used for jurisdictional priorities such as training and hiring more health professionals, clearing backlogs, building capacity for regional centres of excellence, expanding appropriate ambulatory and community care programs and/or tools to manage wait times.
Reporting on Access
Statistics Canada's Access to Health Care Services in Canada (HSAS) report, a supplement to the Canadian Community Health Survey, was specifically designed to improve our understanding of patients' experiences accessing health care services, notably waiting times. The reports provide detailed survey findings on access to family physicians, 24/7 access to first contact services, self-reported unmet health needs, non-urgent access to specialized services (i.e., specialist visits for new illness/condition, non-emergency surgery, and selected diagnostic tests), and waiting for care.
Western Canada Waiting List Project (WCWL)
The  Western Canada Waiting List Project, a $2.1M Health Transition Fund (HTF) funded project, developed pilot tools to standardize prioritized access to care for select procedures: children's mental health, cataract surgery, general surgery, hip/knee replacements, and MRI scanning, using clinical and research expertise. The final report of the WCWL has been widely circulated since its release in May 2001. Health Canada and Western provinces continued its support in the second phase of the project (WCWL_2). WCWL_2 built upon the first phase of the project to begin implementation and evaluation of prioritization tools for children's mental health services, general surgery, hip/knee replacement, and cataract surgery. It has also adapted these tools for use in primary care settings, and began work on developing evidence and needs-based waiting time benchmarks for select procedures.
Provincial and Territorial Initiatives
The primary responsibility for the administration and delivery of health care in Canada is at the provincial level. Provinces and territories are actively advancing initiatives to improve wait times through centralized registries and prioritization systems. Several provinces are now posting wait times information electronically. The following are some examples of provincial and territorial initiatives to reduce or improve wait times management.
International Projects
Health Canada has collaborated with international partners and organizations to better understand best practices in wait times management, particularly for elective surgery. These reports, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Project on Waiting Times, examine and compare, across selected OECD countries, the causes of variations in waiting times for elective surgery, and measures taken to address them.
- Tackling Excessive Waiting Times for Elective Surgery: A Comparison of Policies in Twelve OECD Countries
Conference on Timely Access to Health Care
On February 8th and 9th, 2007, the federal and provincial health ministers, along with senior government officials, experts and health care providers gathered in Toronto for the first-ever Conference on Timely Access to Health Care. This conference was to showcase for Canadians that there is real progress being made across the country in reducing wait times and improving timely access. It was designed specifically to share best practices and wait times innovations, and to learn from each other.
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