Monday, November 06, 2017

Tell me again about the wonders of the Canadian health system

When Dr. Joy Hataley, a family practice anesthetist in Kingston, Ont., recently tried to send a patient to a neurologist at the Kingston General Hospital, she received a letter from the specialist’s office telling her that the current wait time for new patient referrals is 4.5 years.
But wait!  There's MORE!
Dr. Hataley said she’s used to hearing back from specialists who are unable to see her patients for months, and even up to 2.5 years.  But a 4.5-year wait is “insane,” she told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview.
Months is bad enough; flat out horrible in some circumstances, but 2.5 YEARS to see a specialist?  They're used to that?

Bleep.

2 comments:

Roger Ritter said...

I needed an MRI a year or two back for a knee problem. I live in a small town between the cities of Austin and San Antonio in Texas, and I waited maybe three days to get it done. Out of curiosity, I checked the official government website for average wait times for the same MRI in Toronto, Ontario. Times varied for different areas, but the average was about 3 months. That's a long time to limp around on a painful knee.

Some Canadians I know on Facebook said that their experience for similar MRIs was more like a couple of weeks, and challenged where my numbers came from. They didn't have much of a response when I pointed them to the official government website.

Rob said...

Keep track of all the Canadians who write in to tell you they gave up their Canadian health card...