TORONTO – Aug. 8, 2024 – A comprehensive study examining surgical wait times in Ontario has uncovered significant disparities in the timeliness of care for non-urgent surgical procedures. The research, led by Dr. David Urbach at Women’s College Hospital, analyzed Ontario Health data from over 940,000 procedures between 2013 and 2019, including cataract surgery, knee replacement, hip replacement, gallbladder removal, and non-cancer uterine surgery.
Key Findings:
- Wide Range of Wait Times: The study found that median wait times for non-urgent surgeries varied dramatically between hospitals and surgeons. For example, the median wait time for cataract surgery varied from 27 to 188 days (about six months), depending on the hospital, and from 15 days to 249 days (about eight months), depending on the surgeon.
- Surgeon and Hospital Impact: Wait times varied even for patients who had surgery at the same hospital or by the same surgeon. For example, wait times for cataract surgery ranged from two months to one year at the hospital with the longest average wait time and from three months to one year by the surgeon with the longest average wait time.
“Although many patients receive surgery quickly, and most within provincially mandated target wait times, a small but significant proportion of patients continue to wait too long for elective surgery,” says Dr. Urbach, senior author and head of the Department of Surgery at Women’s College Hospital. “These cases impact people’s quality of life and threaten public confidence in the health system.”
- The Need for Systemic Changes: The findings highlight the need for improved coordination between supply and demand in the healthcare system. The authors suggest implementing single-entry models and other strategic approaches to mitigate these disparities and enhance system performance.
“The good news here is that there is a simple solution to reducing long wait times in Canada that does not require significant new health spending,” explains Dr. Urbach, who is also Professor of Surgery and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. “Because long wait times result from too much variation rather than insufficient supply of services, the use of pooled wait lists will prevent wait times longer than recommended for elective surgery in a single-payer publicly funded health system.”
For media inquiries, please contact:
Maria Madden, Manager, Public Affairs, Women’s College Hospital, maria.madden@wchospital.ca.
About Women’s College Hospital
For more than 100 years Women’s College Hospital (WCH) has been developing revolutionary advances in healthcare. Today, WCH is a world leader in health equity and Canada’s leading academic ambulatory hospital. It focuses on delivering innovative solutions that address Canada’s most pressing issues related to population health, patient experience and system costs. A multidisciplinary research institute, the Women’s College Research and Innovation Institute is one of only a few hospital-based research institutes worldwide to focus on health equity, leading innovative, high-impact health research that changes practice, changes policy, and changes lives. www.womenscollegehospital.ca