Despite ongoing efforts to reduce surgical backlogs, patients across Canada continue to wait longer for hip and knee replacements compared with before the pandemic. According to new data released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), about 937,000 fewer surgeries have been performed in Canada over the course of the pandemic, with joint replacements and cataract surgeries accounting for about 24% of the total reduction in surgeries. Almost 40% of patients who required a hip or knee replacement or cataract surgery did not have their procedure done within the recommended time frame in 2022.
Key findings
- Patients continued to experience longer wait times for joint replacements across all provinces in Canada. In 2022, about 50% of patients received their knee replacement within the recommended time frame (versus 70% pre-pandemic) and about 57% of patients received their hip replacement within the recommended time frame (versus 75% pre-pandemic).
- In many provinces, catching up on the backlog of cataract surgeries has been less challenging, as they can be done in day procedure rooms or community clinics. At the national level, wait times for cataract surgery rebounded to pre-pandemic levels by fall 2020 and have remained there, with 66% of patients receiving surgery within the recommended time frame. However, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Ontario, wait times for cataract surgery continued to lag behind pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
- From April to September 2022, 50% of patients waited 1 to 3 days longer for breast, bladder, colorectal and lung cancer surgeries and about 12 days longer for prostate cancer surgery, compared with pre-pandemic wait times.
The study looked at the number of surgeries and trends in wait times since the beginning of the pandemic.
It is encouraging to see that surgery volumes in certain provinces are nearing pre-pandemic levels. Reducing wait times is a complex challenge, and pre-pandemic surgery numbers will need to be exceeded to recover and to reduce surgical backlogs, although the findings vary across provinces and territories.— Tracy Johnson, Director, Health System Analytics, CIHI
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About CIHI
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing essential health information to all Canadians.
CIHI works closely with federal, provincial and territorial partners and stakeholders throughout Canada to gather, package and disseminate information to inform policy, management, care and research, leading to better and more equitable health outcomes for all Canadians.
Health information has become one of society’s most valuable public goods. For more than 25 years, CIHI has set the pace on data privacy, security, accessibility and innovation to improve Canada’s health systems.
CIHI: Better data. Better decisions. Healthier Canadians.
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