Canadians waiting longer for priority surgeries than recommended
Half of all Canadians needing priority procedures like joint replacement or cataract surgery waited longer than the recommended time during the first wave of COVID-19, according to new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
The institute took data from the first six months of the pandemic to see how surgeries were affected by the first wave.
CIHI said it found cancelled and delayed procedures during the pandemic led to longer wait times for joint replacements and cataract surgeries in 2020.
"What I think we probably knew when things had to be cancelled, was there was going to be challenges with waits. What the full impact of that (is) will be hard to tell until we have further data," said Tracy Johnson, director of health system analytics at CIHI.
The data shows around half of Canadians did not receive their procedures within recommended time frames, compared with around one-third in 2019.
CIHI found urgent procedures like radiation therapy and hip fracture repair wait times were not affected as much.
Most Canadians continued to receive care within benchmark periods, and the number of procedures done was comparable with that completed in 2019.
The data also shows for people who received breast, bladder, colorectal, and lung cancer surgery, the median wait times improved by two or three days. The number of cancer surgeries did decrease by about one-fifth compared with 2019, though.
According to CIHI, wait times for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans continued to be longer than those for computed tomography (CT) scans, although the number of diagnostic imaging scans decreased. The institute said wait times varied across provinces.
The decrease in diagnostic imaging is a concern for CIHI since they are key in diagnosing cancer.
"The decreases in the number of diagnostic imaging scans have already been flagged as a challenge for areas like cancer, where 25 per cent of diagnostic imaging is scans for cancer."
Johnson said without imaging, cancer can go undetected for a longer time, which typically lends itself to worse outcomes.
Moving forward, Johnson said provinces will need to start addressing the longer wait times and dealing with the backlog.
"It's been identified that one of the key challenges about the cancellations is about how we get to that backlog and how we get through that backlog," said Johnson.
"We know we have available operating room pace after hours in Canada," Johnson said. "Our biggest challenge will be health human resources, so nurses, anesthesiologists, and physicians. That is really the limiting factor."
CIHI said it is currently working on surgery data from March to June 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Maximum payout for LifeLabs class-action drops from $150 estimate to $7.86
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.