Watch above: Some seniors requiring medical attention aren’t receiving it in a timely manner, according to a new survey. Meaghan Craig has the latest Canadian statistics and explains what they’ve triggered provincially.
SASKATOON – A new survey released Wednesday shows older adults continue to experience challenges when it comes to getting medical care when they need it. All 10 provinces reported significantly longer wait times than the international average according to findings by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
The report comes on the heels of the Saskatoon Health Region confirming that overall, 601 people left emergency departments in December without being seen.
“What we found with this study is that compared to 2007 which is the first year that this survey was done by the commonwealth fund when we compare to another 10 countries we are actually at the bottom of the results when it comes to access to primary healthcare,” said Toronto-based Jeremy Veillard, vice president of research and analysis for CIHI.
While the quality of care was deemed quite good by the study, accessing it was an issue. More than half of Canadians over 55 waited two or more days to see a doctor or nurse the last time they needed medical attention, and one in three waited six days or more.
“This is not very positive news, especially since there have been investments in the last 10 years in terms of increasing the primary health care physicians, changing the way care is delivered by creating teams of professionals so that better care is provided and obviously to enroll more patients so that more Canadians have a regular medical doctor,” stated Veillard.
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Veillard said it’s difficult to say why access to timely primary health care hasn’t improved.
“What we see is that even if you look at a more granular level at all the provinces there is consisting to having relatively poor results compared internationally.”
The survey also showed that more than half of older adults reported difficulties getting medical care on evenings or weekends without going to the emergency department. More than one in three (37 per cent) visited the emergency department for a condition that could have been treated by their regular doctor.
The province says it’s actively working to address these issues.
“We’ve increased the number of physicians in the province, licensed physicians from about 24 per cent from 2007 and we’ve increased the number of nurses working the province by 2,600 over the same time period and the number of nurse practitioners working the province has increased by 75 per cent,” said Margaret Baker, executive director of primary health services for Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health.
The province is also developing collaborative emergency centres to improve access to health care services in rural and remote communities. During the day, the public has access to a primary health care team, including physicians and nurse practitioners, with extended hours on evenings and weekends. Overnight care is handled by a registered nurse and paramedic team with physician oversight by phone.
Initiatives are currently underway to shorten wait times in emergency departments and both the Regina Qu’Appelle and Saskatoon health regions will be introducing hotspotting pilots that target services to frequent users of emergency and hospital services.
According to CIHI officials wait times for elective procedures and surgeries however have greatly improved and the country is doing relatively well on this front.
In Saskatchewan, there were 12,452 fewer patients waiting more than three months for surgery than when it began it’s Surgical Initiative.
“I think that the experience we’ve had in the last 10 years with wait times in Canada is showing that focused attention, common targets and consistent strategies will probably help us to get better results.”
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