No more waiting: for medical treatment

Zoomer | February 21st, 2007

We demand that if a provincial government cannot deliver the treatment within an acceptable wait-time benchmark, then they must pay extra directly to the patient to have that treatment delivered somewhere else.

What treatments do we have in mind? What benchmarks?

We’re starting with the benchmarks developed by the Wait Time Alliance for Timely Access to Health Care (WTA). This is a group made up of representatives from these medical groups:

  • Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine
  • Canadian Association of Radiation Oncologists
  • Canadian Association of Radiologists
  • Canadian Cardiovascular Society
  • Canadian Medical Association
  • Canadian Ophthalmological Society
  • Canadian Orthopaedic Association

They developed a series of wait-time benchmarks for critical treatments. Here it is:

Specialty/procedure Emergency cases Urgent cases Scheduled cases
Radiology (diagnostic imaging)
CT scans and MRIs Immediate to 24 hr. Within 7 days Within 30 days
Nuclear medicine (diagnostic imaging)
Bone scan (whole body) Immediate to 24 hr. Within 7 days Within 30 days
FDG-PET Immediate to 24 hr. Within 7 days Within 30 days
Cardiac nuclear imaging (perfusion; viability; LV function) (SPECT or PET) Immediate to 24 hr. Within 3 days Within 14 days
Joint replacement
Hip and knee replacement surgery Immediate to 24 hr. Within 30 days (priority 1)

Within 90 days (priority 2)

Consultation: within 3 months

Treatment: within 6 months of consultation

Cancer care
Radiation therapy Immediate to 24 hr. Based on individual need Consultation: within 10 working days

Treatment: within 10 working days of consultation

Sight restoration
Cataract surgery Not applicable Cases are expedited proportional to relative degree of priority Within 16 weeks of consultation
Cardiac care
Initial specialist consult Immediate to 24 hr. Within 7 days Within 6 weeks
Diagnostic procedures (diagnostic catheterization) Immediate to 48 hr. Within 3 days Within 6 weeks
Diagnostic procedures (diagnostic catheterization) Immediate to 48 hr. Within 3 days Within 6 weeks
Therapeutic services and procedures
Angioplasty Immediate to 48 hr. Within 7 days Within 6 weeks
Bypass surgery Immediate to 48 hr. Within 14 days Within 6 weeks
Valvular surgery Immediate to 24 hr. Within 14 days Within 6 weeks
Heart failure services Immediate to 24 hr. Within 14 days Within 6 weeks
Pacemaker Within 3 days Within 14 days Within 6 weeks
Referral to electrophysiologist Not applicable Within 30 days Within 3 months
Electrophysiology testing/catheter ablation Not applicable Within 14 days Within 3 months
ICD Within 3 days Not applicable Within 8 weeks
Cardiac rehabilitation Immediate Within 7 days Within 30 days

We’re using this chart as the basis for our demands. If you can’t get the treatment within the wait-time period, the province pays for you to get it done somewhere else.

This is not about private versus public health care! CARP strongly supports public health care, and has always done so. But your health – and not the sanctity of the delivery system – must come first. If the system can’t deliver, then your health must not be sacrificed.

When the province has to pay for you to get the treatment somewhere else, that may mean going to another public health system in a nearby province. It may mean going to a private resource – in Canada or elsewhere. We don’t care. The important thing is that you get the treatment you need – when you need it.

CARP demands wait-time guarantees…now!

Learn More:

Demand 1) Guaranteed wait times for 18 essential medical treatments.
Click here to read the details.

Demand 2) Immediate coverage, under all provincial drug benefit plans, of all drugs approved by Health Canada.
Click here to read the details.

Demand 3) $2 billion to be earmarked by the Federal Government to provide respite facilities and information resources for family caregivers.
Click here to read the details.

Can we succeed? It all depends…on you.