A new report says that after years of progress, some provinces are losing ground in their fight to reduce patient wait times for a number of benchmark medical treatments.
The report, issued on Tuesday by the Wait Times Alliance, looked at wait times in five main areas: cancer treatment, cardiac care, diagnostic imaging, joint replacement and sight restoration.
The report showed an overall increase in wait times for patients in all five categories.
鈥淭his year, a real surprise after years of improvement, there was backsliding everywhere in every province and every specialty area, there was backwards movement,鈥� said Dr. Chris Simpson, chair of the alliance.
The report found that in 2012, patients were waiting longer to receive treatments within the time period set by the pan-Canadian benchmarks.
"Although some provinces have shown improvement, the overall results point toward lengthier waits," said the report.
The alliance also issued report cards for each province, grading the province on how they scored in wait times compared to the national benchmarks.
The report cards showed significant regional variation in wait-time lengths, with certain provinces scoring high and others failing.
For example, the suggested wait time for hip replacement surgery is set for 26 weeks.
Only Ontario scored an A in the category, with 80 per cent or more of patients getting the surgery within that time frame.
By contrast, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Manitoba received scores of C's and D's, because up to 40 per cent of patients didn't get surgeries within the recommended six-month target.
Generally, Ontario fared the best of all the provinces with A鈥檚 in all five categories.
Manitoba scored the lowest of all the provinces due to lengthy waits for cataract surgery and prostate and breast cancer treatments.
All of the provinces received A鈥檚 in the area of overall cancer treatment.
The report blamed part of the increase in wait times to the overcrowding of hospitals by elderly patients who suffer from dementia.
These patients fill up hospital beds, making it difficult to treat other patients, said the report.
The report urged the government to create a national dementia program in the face of the country鈥檚 aging population, which will make the problem worse, said the report.
"Canada needs a national dementia strategy that formally integrates the functions of primary care, specialist care and home-care services with a strong focus on keeping seniors in the community, out of the ED (emergency department) and out of hospital," the report said.
The report mainly looked at procedures related to specialist care and didn鈥檛 include wait times for general practitioners or wait times to have medical tests performed after visiting the doctor.
In some instances, those wait times have increased dramatically.
For example, the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology concluded that wait times for gastro-intestinal procedures have increased significantly in the last seven years.
"Total wait times for Canadians, considering all gastroenterology indications, have increased from 2005 to 2012 and are now 30 days longer than they were in 2005," said the association in an email.
In some instances the wait times for procedures far exceed the nationally set benchmark. For example, the target wait time for a colonoscopy is 60 days. The current average wait time is 279 days.
No matter how the report is read, one this is explicitly clear, said alliance chair Simpson.
鈥淲e can do better,鈥� he said.
With a report from CTV鈥檚 Medical Correspondent Avis Favaro and The Canadian Press
