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Why do Canadians wait so long for non-urgent surgeries?

Wait times for non-emergency surgeries that can be scheduled in advance, also known as elective surgeries, have been increasing in recent years.

For example, the benchmark or recommended wait for hip and knee replacements is about six months. In 2022, just 57% of hip replacements and 50% of knee replacements happened within that target, down from 75% and 70% before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recommended wait for cataract surgeries to replace the lens of the eye is just over three months. In 2022, 66% of cataract surgeries were completed in that time, down from 70% before the pandemic.
While hip, knee and cataract surgeries may not be everyone’s reality (yet!), delayed elective surgeries may impact a friend or family member.

How do Canadian wait times for surgery compare to other countries?

In a comparison of 10 peer countries, Canada reported the largest percentage of people waiting more than a year for elective surgery (20%), followed by the United Kingdom (19%) and Australia (12%). On the flipside, no one in the Netherlands waited longer than a year.

Why are wait times for elective surgeries so long?

From the time a patient finds out they need surgery to getting the procedure, what's the hold up?

There are many contributing factors, including underinvestment in facilities and technology, workforce issues, inefficient use of resources and increasing demand for services.
Pandemic restrictions created a massive backlog. As COVID-19 surged, scheduled surgeries and other procedures were delayed several times between March 2020 and December 2021. During that time, there were nearly 600,000 fewer surgeries performed, which now need to be caught up on.
Shortage of health care workers. Many skilled staff, especially nurses, have retired or left their jobs since the pandemic making it difficult to staff operating rooms.

Let's talk solutions

What experts are saying:

Increase surgical capacity. Experts say we’ll need to ramp up the number of surgeries to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels.
Better waitlist management. Centralizing waitlists to connect patients with the first available surgeon and regularly checking lists to remove people who no longer need surgery could help clear backlogs more quickly.
Streamline operating room capacity. Scheduling more complex cases near the end of the day can help reduce delays and cancellations. Investing in more equipment so surgeons don’t have to wait for equipment to be cleaned and extending operating room hours could also add more capacity.
Expand surgeries outside the hospital. Some procedures that are less complex can be moved out of hospitals and into community-based surgical clinics, which can help increase capacity to deal with surgical backlogs. This requires partnership between hospitals and clinics to make sure staff are shared so they’re not in competition with each other.