Long Waits Cost Canadians Millions
More than 825,000 Canadians were waiting for some type of treatment after seeing a specialist in 2010. Once seen by a specialist, the average wait until they were treated was about 9.3 weeks according to a report by Nadeem Esmail of the Fraser Institute (see “Weighted median” wait in chart below).
More than 825,000 Canadians were waiting for some type of treatment after seeing a specialist in 2010. Once seen by a specialist, the average wait until they were treated was about 9.3 weeks according to a report by Nadeem Esmail of the Fraser Institute (see “Weighted median” wait in chart below).
According to Esmail, Canadians spent more than 10 million weeks waiting for treatment in 2010. The estimated value of working hours lost waiting was $912 million or about $1,105 for each of the 825,827 people waiting for care. This figure increases to $3,384 if evenings and weekends are included in the calculations.
