Canada’s median health-care wait time hits 30 weeks—longest ever recorded

By Mackenzie Moir and Bacchus Barua of The Fraser Institute.

Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2024 Report

• In 2024, physicians across Canada reported a median wait time of 30.0 weeks between a referral from a GP and receipt of treatment. Up from 27.7 in 2023.
• This is 222% longer than the 9.3 week wait Canadian patients could expect in 1993.
• Ontario reported the shortest total wait (23.6 weeks), followed by Quebec (28.9 weeks) and British Columbia (29.5 weeks).
• Patients waited longest in Prince Edward Island (77.4 weeks), New Brunswick (69.4 weeks) and Newfoundland and Labrador (43.2 weeks).
• Patients waited the longest for Orthopaedic Surgery (57.5 weeks) and Neurosurgery (46.2 weeks).
• By contrast, patients faced shorter waits for Radiation Oncology (4.5 weeks) and Medical Oncology (4.7 weeks).
• The national 30 week total wait is comprised of two segments. Referral by a GP to consultation with a specialist: 15.0 weeks. Consultation with a specialist to receipt of treatment: 15.0 weeks.
• More than 1900 responses were received across 12 specialties and 10 provinces.
• After seeing a specialist, Canadian patients waited 6.3 weeks longer than what physicians consider to be clinically reasonable (8.6 weeks).
• Across 10 provinces, the study estimated that patients in Canada were waiting for 1.5 million procedures in 2024.
• Patients also suffered considerable delays for diagnostic technology: 8.1 weeks for CT scans, 16.2 weeks for MRI scans, and 5.2 weeks for Ultrasound.