Access to health care services in Canada, 2001

Analytical report

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Key findings

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• This is the first time that detailed information about access to health care services such as 24/7 first contact services and specialized services is available at the national level.

• The majority of Canadians (87.7%) have a regular family physician, ranging from 75.9% in Québec to 94.6% in New Brunswick. Among those with a regular family physician, 53.0% reported that the care they received was "excellent" (39.8% in Manitoba to 58.0% in Québec), while 6.7% reported that it was "fair or poor" (4.4% in Québec to 11.9% in Manitoba).

• Among the 12.3% of Canadians without a regular family physician, the reasons most frequently cited for not having one varied across the country: those living in the Atlantic provinces were more likely to cite reasons related to physician availability while those living in Québec, Manitoba, Alberta, or British Columbia were more likely to indicate that they had not tried to contact one.

• When they required first contact services such as routine care, health information or advice and immediate care for a minor health problem, most Canadians sought care from their physician during regular office hours and from walk-in clinics and hospital emergency rooms outside office hours.

• An estimated 4.3 million Canadians reported difficulties accessing first contact services and approximately 1.4 million Canadians reported difficulties accessing specialized services such as specialist visits, non-emergency surgery (planned surgery, excluding dental surgery) and selected diagnostic tests (non-emergency MRIs, CT scans, or angiographies). While the type of barrier varied by time of day and service type, lengthy waits and problems contacting a health care provider were frequently cited by those who experienced difficulty accessing care.

• Among those waiting for specialized services, between 39.5% of those who waited for non-emergency surgery and 54.7% of those who waited for diagnostic tests waited less than one month. Those waiting for cardiac and cancer related surgery were more likely to receive care within one month (53.6%) compared with those waiting for joint replacement or cataract surgery (19.8%). The 5% with the longest waits waited 26 weeks or more for specialist visits and diagnostic tests and 35 weeks or more for non-emergency surgery.

• One in five of those who waited for specialized services indicated that waiting for care affected their lives. Most of these individuals reported that they experienced worry, stress and anxiety, pain or diminished health as a result of waiting for care.

• Among those waiting for specialized services, between 21.7% of those who waited for non-emergency surgery and 26.7% of those who waited for specialist visits indicated that their waiting time was unacceptable. They reported longer waits, between three and six times as long as those who reported that their waiting time was acceptable. For instance, among individuals who waited for specialist visits, those who said their waiting times were unacceptable had waited 13 weeks (median value) compared with 2 weeks among those whose waits were acceptable to them.

• More than half of those who reported their waits to be unacceptable also reported that waiting for care had affected their lives, compared with only 5% among those who reported that their waiting time was acceptable.

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