Calgary Herald

Albertans are waiting nearly a month longer than most other Canadians -- an average of 22.1 weeks -- for non-emergency surgery, according to a report released Monday by the Fraser Institute.

The report, titled Waiting Your Turn, used survey responses from doctors to measure how long patients wait for diagnostic and surgical procedures after being referred to a specialist by a general practitioner.

The annual study found Canadians are waiting an average of 18.2 weeks to get into an operating room, a figure that has only been higher once in the report's 20-year history, when it reached 18.3 weeks in 2007.

Mark Rovere, a health policy researcher with the Vancouver-based conservative think-tank, says new policies -- not more spending or wait-time targeting -- are the solution to shortening surgical delays.

"There's a real stubbornness in Canada because people think we have the perfect health care model," says Rovere. "But these figures show it's time we started looking at how others have tackled the issue."

He said countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland have almost eliminated surgical waits by introducing competition and consumer choice through private insurance, while retaining universal coverage by subsidizing premiums for the poor.

David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, says the report shows Alberta needs to spend its health care dollars more efficiently and consider spending more so it can do more surgeries.

"The solution is not to throw up our hands and allow private insurance so people with money can jump to the front of the line," Eggen says.

"We need to have capacity in our province that reflects our growing population."

Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky was unavailable for comment Monday, but Alison Tonge, the executive vice-president of strategy and performance with Alberta Health Services, said the province's 13 per cent rise in wait times this the report show there's a need to make drastic improvements.

"I can't comment on the methodology used in the study," said Tonge, "but I'd be the first to admit we need to improve access to scheduled care, whether it's surgery or getting in to see a doctor." AHS tracks how long patients wait for surgery after seeing a specialist, not the time that passes after a patient is referred by a general practitioner to a specialist.

Under new performance measures announced last week, the provincial health authority aims to substantially shorten waits by March 2015. For example, 90 per cent of Albertans in need of a knee replacement have the procedure done within 49 weeks of seeing a specialist. Next year, AHS hopes to lower that number to 42 weeks. For 2015, it has set a target of 14 weeks.

"We're not going to shorten these waits overnight," says Tonge, "but by looking at the entire pathway from the family doctor through to treatment we think we can speed things up."

For example. Tonge says AHS has formed a provincewide bone and network that's looking at whether pooling referrals could shorten the time patients wait to be seen by specialists and to get their surgeries done.

Based on surveys from 1,667 doctors across the country, including 177 in Alberta, the Fraser Institute report showed wait times increased in all provinces this year.

Ontario showed the shortest total wait time at 14.0 weeks. Manitoba was next with an average wait of 17.5 weeks. Quebec and B. C were tied at 18.8 weeks. Saskatchewan and all of the Atlantic provinces had significant longer waits than Alberta's 22.1 weeks.

Nationally, the study found the longest waits were for orthopedic, plastic and neurosurgical procedures, with average waits of 35.6, 31.5 and 29.7 weeks, respectively.

While the report found Canadians saw waits for ultrasound and CT-scans shorten last year, they are waiting longer for more magnetic resonance imaging. Patients who need MRIs wait an average of 9.8 weeks. In Alberta, they wait 11.5 weeks.

Rovere said the response rate to the 2010 survey was down substantially from previous years.

Only about 16 per cent of specialists sent the questionnaire filled it out, despite being offered the chance to win a $2,000 prize.