TORONTO — The Canadian Institute for Health Information says more surgeries are being performed than before the pandemic — but wait times have still grown longer.
The report released Thursday looked at wait times for hip and knee replacements, cataract procedures, cancer surgeries, MRIs and CT scans in 2019 and in 2024.
"While the backlog that we saw at the height of the pandemic due to delays and cancellations has been cleared, we're still seeing increasing need and demand for many of these procedures from a growing and aging population and some increasing medical complexity of patients," Cheryl Chui, the institute's director of health systems analytics, said in an interview.
A shortage of health-care workers, including surgical staff, is another factor contributing to longer wait times, the report said.
The percentage of patients receiving hip and knee replacements within the recommended six-month time frame decreased, even though the number of surgeries increased by more than 20 per cent.
Even though doctors performed more breast, bladder, colorectal and lung cancer surgeries in 2024 than they did in 2019, the wait times still rose.
However, doctors performed fewer prostate cancer surgeries in 2024 than they did in 2019 and the wait time increased the most out of all the cancer surgeries, from 41 days in 2019 to 50 days in 2024.
Wait times for cataract surgery didn't change substantially, with 69 per cent treated within the recommended 16-week time frame in 2024 compared to 70 per cent in 2019.
The median wait time for an MRI was 15 days longer in 2024 than it was pre-pandemic. The wait was three days longer for CT scans.
The study covered the period between April 1 and Sept. 30 in 2019 and in 2024.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2025.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press
