{"id":26911,"date":"2021-04-03T14:36:44","date_gmt":"2021-04-03T14:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/?p=26911"},"modified":"2021-04-07T11:04:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T11:04:29","slug":"healthcare-wait-time-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/healthcare-wait-time-in-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Are There Longer Wait Times for Healthcare in Canada? [+Solution]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every Canadian has a wait-time story.<\/span> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sometimes wait in emergency departments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sometimes wait to see a family doctor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sometimes wait to see specialists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be it the provincial, territorial or federal government, all had nodded to the fact that the Canadian healthcare system has a serious issue which is long wait times. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact – rather than improvising, the situation is getting worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1993, the overall wait time in Ontario was around 10 weeks and in 2019, it was 16 weeks! <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If we talk about individual hospital\u2019s wait times at the moment (while writing this blog on 2nd March at 4 am EDT), the Vancouver General Hospital has a wait time of around 3 hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Though this is significantly low, it is still enough to decide the fate of patients! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is another side of wait time in Canadian hospitals that only a few are talking about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospital wait times in Canada: is it real? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The healthcare infrastructure of any country depicts the overall growth of that specific country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, let\u2019s not come to the conclusion that there is a high wait time in Canadian healthcare with just a little data. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to check the on-ground situation and scenarios. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada has a universal healthcare system and under which every Canadian can get free healthcare. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the eligibility to get healthcare is all about how urgent the needs of the person needing medical attention. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, 3 people rush to the ER in a Canadian hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first person has a cardiac attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second person has pain in the ankle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the third person has a cut on the arm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needless to say that the needs of the first person are more urgent as he has a cardiac attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, healthcare staff may ask the 2nd and 3rd person to wait as they are not going through any life-threatening situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this manner, Canada\u2019s healthcare system surely has a high waiting time.<\/span> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is nothing wrong with a prioritized care delivery model – as far as it provides care to patients waiting in queue with non-life-threatening situations before the situation gets worse and it becomes a life-threatening situation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, the government had prepared the benchmarks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are nothing but the maximum time a patient should wait for specific treatment because waiting time can leave an adverse effect on patients\u2019 health. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is an example of benchmarks for chronic pain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, here are the benchmarks for the joint replacement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Check out the full list of benchmarks here<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These benchmarks are clearly showing that Canadian healthcare has long wait times. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it doesn\u2019t matter if it is for life-threatening situations or non-life-threatening situations because it is always about rapid and quality care! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it is worth asking, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are there longer wait times for healthcare in Canada? <\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

It is a never-ending debate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few are saying longer wait time is the cost of universal healthcare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas some others are saying there are countries having universal healthcare and having less wait time than Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These tweets show how frustrated people are with long wait times in healthcare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Leaving all things behind, let\u2019s discuss the top reasons for long hospital wait times in Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.<\/strong> Restriction on private healthcare<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Canada, healthcare is the public-funded system in which the federal government allocates funds to each province and lets provincial governments run the healthcare within a particular province. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way, the government is directly responsible for the healthcare system in Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And because of this, only 70% of total healthcare spending comes from the public sector and only 21% comes from the private sector. <\/span> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If both public and private sectors combine the efforts, the wait time would reduce dramatically as it will infuse private healthcare providers into the healthcare system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is also useful<\/strong>: How healthcare system works in Canada?<\/u><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/strong> Overwhelmed healthcare professionals<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all know how overwhelmed our healthcare professionals are as our healthcare system is working at its full capacity – especially during the pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stressful situation in the healthcare center also takes a toll on healthcare professional\u2019s mental health which affects their productivity. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, they have to manage tedious paperwork, data entries and other administrative works related to patient care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These all unnecessary tasks eat up their time and leave them with only a few hours to see the patients. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.<\/strong> Follow-up meetings<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow-up meetings with healthcare providers are important but many times, a physical follow-up meeting does not serve any purpose but wastes time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They could have a virtual or telephonic follow-up meeting which is less time-consuming and as effective as the physical meeting. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.<\/strong> High patient no-shows<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many people who book the appointment with specialists but fail to attend it by mistake or deliberately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when a patient misses the appointment, everyone has to pay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Nova Scotia family practice posted on Facebook that a single month of no-shows wasted 36 hours of physician time. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time could have been invested for other patients! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta cite no-show rates of 11% and 20-30%, respectively. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to reduce hospital wait time in Canada? – A solution <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To reduce wait time in hospitals or ER, they should reconsider the investment plans and invest in some useful technologies and digital solutions. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following are those technologies and digital solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.<\/strong> Telemedicine or Virtual Care<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any medical attention which is not life-threatening can be handled virtually using a telemedicine mobile app or website<\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It enables healthcare providers to offer quality and rapid care without being physically present to the patients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A telemedicine solution is so feature-rich that it supports ePrescription, health cards, appointment bookings, medical notes and sick notes. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This significantly reduces the patients\u2019 footprints in the hospitals and reduces the efforts put in patients\u2019 onboarding and physical meetings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the built-in smart appointment reminder feature makes sure that there are fewer patient no-shows. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore our telemedicine for hospitals<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/a> solution.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/strong> Robotic Process Automation<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a technology or approach to developing computer software that gets installed on the computer and completes the tasks on it the same as the humans but automatically and with accuracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the RPA software program performs the time-consuming and repetitive tasks of the healthcare professionals without any assistance. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way, it frees up the healthcare professionals from unnecessary tasks that can be managed by the computer program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this eventually creates time for them which they can utilize for patient care. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out use cases of RPA in healthcare<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The threat is real. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If our healthcare system does not respond now, things will get worse and then it would be very difficult to bring down the wait time to a satisfactory level. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both federal and provincial governments are working really hard to cope up with long wait times, but it seems their strategy isn\u2019t working as there is no hope nearby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only workable solution we have now is revolutionary healthcare technologies and digital solutions. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If these won\u2019t help – nothing won\u2019t!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every Canadian has a wait-time story.  They sometimes wait in emergency departments.  They sometimes wait to see a family doctor.  They sometimes wait to see specialists.  Be it the provincial, territorial or federal government, all had nodded to the fact that the Canadian healthcare system has a serious issue which is long wait times.  In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Are There Longer Wait Times for Healthcare in Canada?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Know top reasons for longer wait times in Canada or ER wait time and how to reduce hospital wait time in Canada.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/healthcare-wait-time-in-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why delayed care in Canada?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Top reasons and workable solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/healthcare-wait-time-in-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SyS Creations - IT Management, Compliance & Consulting Company in Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-03T14:36:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-07T11:04:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Blog-49-2-4-21.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Why delayed care in Canada?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Top reasons and workable solutions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SyS Creations - IT Management, Compliance & Consulting Company in Canada\",\"description\":\"SyS Creations - IT Management, Compliance & Consulting Company in Canada\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/healthcare-wait-time-in-canada\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Blog-49-2-4-21.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.syscreations.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Blog-49-2-4-21.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Why Are There Longer Wait Times for Healthcare in Canada? 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