Canadian patients wait longest to see family physicians

Canada ranks last among 11 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries in a new survey in terms of how quickly people can get an appointment to see their regular family physicians. The survey, titled “Where You Live Matters: Canadian views on healthcare quality,” was published in a Health Council of Canada bulletin. It was based on data from the 2013 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of the General Public. Improvement in reducing wait times has been modest and is often lacking, and Canadians are concerned, the survey noted. Depending on the province, only 31% to 46% of Canadians could get an appointment the same day or the next day, not including emergency department visits. That finding is the worst of all the countries surveyed and there has been no improvement since 2004, according to the survey. By comparison, Germany ranked the highest (76%) for getting appointments the same or next day. The United States ranked second to last at 48%.

Source: CBC News