Healthcare Wait Times in Canada 2025: Why Delays Happen & What Patients Can Do

Healthcare wait times in Canada are still high in 2025. Discover the latest data, why delays happen, province-by-province differences, and actionable steps you can take while governments work to reduce backlogs.

Introduction

If you’ve ever had to wait months to see a specialist or schedule surgery in Canada, you’re not alone. Long healthcare wait times are one of the biggest frustrations for patients across the country. People often describe the system as universal but not always accessible, especially when it comes to timely care.

In 2025, the challenge hasn’t gone away. Patients still face delays for common surgeries, diagnostic tests like MRIs, and even routine specialist consultations. These waits can impact quality of life, lead to worsening health conditions, and create anxiety for families.

This article explores how long Canadians are waiting in 2025, why the problem persists, and what both patients and governments are doing about it. Most importantly, it offers practical steps you can take if you or a loved one is stuck on a wait list.

The Current Landscape: How Long Are Canadians Waiting in 2025

National Wait Times for Priority Procedures

Across Canada, wait times vary depending on the type of care you need. According to the latest reporting from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, about 73% of patients received hip or knee replacements within the recommended benchmark in 2024–25. While this marks an improvement over the pandemic years, it still leaves more than one in four patients waiting beyond clinically advised timelines.

For cataract surgeries, roughly 65% of patients were treated within the benchmark of 16 weeks. The numbers are better for hip fracture repairs, where 87% of cases were completed within 48 hours, reflecting the system’s prioritization of urgent care.

Here’s a snapshot of national averages for selected procedures:

Specialist Consultations

Waits don’t just apply to surgeries. Many patients first struggle to see a specialist after being referred by their family doctor. Statistics Canada reported in mid-2024 that the median wait to consult a specialist was about 11 weeks nationwide. For some specialties, like orthopaedics and neurology, waits can stretch much longer.

These delays often mean patients are left in limbo—dealing with ongoing pain or uncertainty—before they even get a diagnosis or treatment plan.

Emergency Departments and Diagnostic Tests

Beyond surgeries and consultations, emergency room waits are another pressure point. Reports from multiple provinces show average ER stays exceeding 12 hours in crowded urban hospitals. For diagnostics, such as MRIs and CT scans, backlogs remain stubborn, with many patients waiting several months depending on the province and urgency.

Even as provinces publish online dashboards to help track progress—like Ontario’s Wait Times tool—the reality for many Canadians is that timely access to care remains inconsistent.

Province-by-Province Comparison

Wait times in Canada are not uniform. Where you live often determines how quickly you receive care.

The Fraser Institute’s 2024 “Waiting Your Turn” report found that the national median wait from referral by a family doctor to receipt of treatment was 27.7 weeks. That’s nearly seven months and well above the 9.3 weeks reported in 1993. But some provinces fare far worse than others.

Patients in Atlantic Canada experience the longest waits, with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick topping the list. Ontario consistently reports shorter waits, partly due to larger system capacity and centralized referral models in some regions.

For specific treatments, such as orthopaedic surgery or neurosurgery, provincial gaps become even more striking. A patient in Saskatchewan may wait nearly twice as long for the same operation as someone in Ontario.

These differences matter because they highlight how local policy, hospital resources, and workforce availability directly affect access to care.

Why Wait Times Remain High

Growing Demand and Ageing Population

Canada’s population is ageing, and with age comes greater demand for joint replacements, cardiac care, and cancer treatments. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the number of priority procedures performed has grown steadily over the last decade. Even with higher volumes, demand continues to outpace system capacity.

This demographic pressure means that unless more resources are added, wait times are unlikely to shrink significantly.

Workforce Shortages and Limited Capacity

A shortage of healthcare workers is one of the most immediate barriers. Canada faces well-documented gaps in the number of surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses available to keep operating rooms running at full tilt. Burnout after the pandemic and difficulties retaining skilled staff have worsened the problem.

Even when staff are available, hospitals often run into capacity limits. Operating rooms may sit unused outside standard hours, not because demand is lacking, but because budgets don’t allow for extra staffing. Bed shortages, especially for post-surgical recovery, add further bottlenecks.

Backlogs from the Pandemic

Although hospitals ramped up efforts to reduce surgical backlogs created during COVID-19, the ripple effects remain. Thousands of procedures were delayed or cancelled during the height of the pandemic. Many of those patients are still waiting, often with conditions that have worsened over time.

Referral Delays and Diagnostic Bottlenecks

Not all delays happen in the operating room. For many patients, the wait begins well before surgery is even scheduled.

Family doctors often need to refer patients to specialists, but those specialists have their own wait lists. The time between referral and consultation can stretch for months. In fields like orthopaedics or neurology, this is where the biggest slowdowns occur. Until a patient is formally assessed, treatment cannot even be booked.

Diagnostics are another bottleneck. Access to CT scans, MRIs, and ultrasounds varies widely by province. Some hospitals can offer appointments within weeks, while others leave patients waiting several months. CIHI data shows that in 2024–25, fewer than half of Canadians received an MRI within the recommended 30-day benchmark. These imaging delays often hold up surgery because surgeons need clear test results before operating.

System Design and Funding Constraints

Canada’s healthcare system is built on publicly funded, provincially delivered care. While this ensures universal access, it also creates fragmentation. Each province manages its own priorities, budgets, and staffing policies. The result is uneven service delivery across the country.

Funding pressures add to the challenge. Provinces operate within tight budgets, and expanding surgical capacity requires significant investment in staff, operating room hours, and infrastructure. Unlike urgent care, which gets prioritized, elective procedures like joint replacements or cataract surgeries are more vulnerable to delays when budgets are tight.

There are also legal and policy limits on private alternatives. In Quebec, the Chaoulli v. Quebec case briefly opened the door to some private coverage for medically necessary services, but restrictions remain in place across most of Canada. This means patients have fewer legal options to bypass public wait lists compared with other universal systems around the world.

The Human Impact of Long Waits

Health Consequences

Delays in treatment aren’t just inconvenient—they can worsen outcomes. A patient waiting months for a hip replacement may experience declining mobility, muscle loss, or secondary complications like falls. Cancer patients waiting for diagnostic imaging or surgery may see disease progression during the delay.

The reality is that time matters. While many procedures are classified as “elective,” they are still medically necessary. Long waits risk turning manageable conditions into chronic or life-threatening problems.

Mental and Emotional Strain

Waiting is emotionally exhausting. Many Canadians report feelings of frustration, anxiety, and helplessness while stuck in the system. The uncertainty—“How long will this take? Will I get worse before I’m treated?”—can weigh heavily on both patients and their families.

Financial Burden

Even though Canada’s healthcare system covers medically necessary care, patients often face indirect costs. Long waits can mean time off work, reduced productivity, and expenses for managing symptoms in the meantime.

According to a Fraser Institute report on private cost of public queues, Canadian patients lost over $5 billion in wages in 2024 due to wait times for treatment. Families often spend additional money on mobility aids, physiotherapy, or pain management while waiting.

Unequal Effects Across Populations

Rural and remote communities face even greater challenges. A patient in northern Manitoba may need to travel hundreds of kilometres for specialist care. Lower-income families and marginalized groups are also disproportionately affected, since they may lack the resources to seek alternative options or to cope financially during long waits.

What Patients Can Do While They Wait

Long healthcare wait times in Canada can feel discouraging, but patients are not powerless. There are steps you can take to better manage the experience and sometimes shorten the delay.

Understand Your Place in the Queue

Start by asking your doctor or specialist for details about your priority ranking. Many provinces use triage systems that assign urgency levels to cases. Knowing whether your situation is considered urgent, semi-urgent, or elective can help set realistic expectations.

In Ontario, for example, patients can use the provincial wait time website to compare average waits across hospitals and regions. Checking these resources gives you a clearer idea of where you stand.

Seek a Second Opinion or Alternate Provider

If the wait feels unmanageable, you can ask for a referral to a different specialist or facility. Some hospitals have shorter lists, even within the same city. Your family doctor can often redirect your referral if you request it.

Patients also sometimes benefit from second opinions, which may open new treatment options or reveal alternate pathways to care.

Explore Private and Cross-Border Options

Although Canada restricts private payment for medically necessary services, some exceptions exist. Quebec, for instance, allows certain private clinics to offer surgeries like cataract procedures. In other provinces, private imaging clinics may provide faster access to MRIs or CT scans, though patients must pay out of pocket.

A small number of Canadians also travel to the U.S. for quicker treatment. While costly, this option is occasionally considered for urgent but non-life-threatening cases where delays in Canada pose serious hardship. The federal government has reported that cross-border care accounts for only a fraction of overall demand, but it remains an option for those who can afford it.

Stay Engaged in Your Care

Being proactive while you wait can make a real difference. Ask your care team if there are prehabilitation programs available—these help patients strengthen their bodies before surgery, which can improve recovery and outcomes.

Lifestyle adjustments such as exercise, weight management, and nutrition may also reduce risks and prepare you for a smoother procedure. Some hospitals provide guides or workshops to support patients during this period.

Manage Symptoms and Mental Health

Don’t hesitate to request support for symptom management. Pain specialists, physiotherapists, or occupational therapists can often help keep you functioning while you wait.

Mental health is just as important. Anxiety and stress related to long waits are common, and connecting with a counselor or peer support group can ease the burden. Provincial health lines, such as HealthLink BC, can connect you to resources in your region.

Advocate and Escalate

If your condition worsens, let your doctor know immediately. Worsening symptoms can sometimes change your priority level, moving you higher on the wait list.

You also have the right to file complaints or seek help from provincial patient ombudsmen if you feel your wait has become unsafe or unreasonable. Many advocacy groups in Canada push for systemic changes, and joining these efforts can provide both support and a stronger collective voice.

What Governments and Health Systems Are Doing

Short-Term Catch-Up Programs

Many provinces have launched targeted “catch-up” initiatives to tackle the surgical backlog left by the pandemic. These programs often include weekend and evening operating room hours, as well as temporary funding to expand capacity. For example, Ontario’s 2024 surgical recovery plan added millions in funding for hip, knee, and cataract surgeries to bring wait times closer to national benchmarks.

Centralized Wait-List Management

Some provinces are adopting centralized wait lists, which pool referrals and distribute patients more evenly across available specialists. This prevents the situation where one hospital’s surgeons are overwhelmed while another facility has unused capacity. British Columbia and Manitoba have reported early success with this approach. Updates on Manitoba’s recovery progress are available through its Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force.

Workforce Recruitment and Retention

Governments are also prioritizing workforce stability. Recruitment campaigns aim to attract more nurses, anesthesiologists, and medical technologists, while retention programs focus on reducing burnout and improving workplace support. Immigration has become a key lever as provinces open new pathways for internationally trained health professionals to work in Canada.

Despite these efforts, workforce gaps remain one of the most stubborn causes of long wait times. Training new specialists can take years, so short-term solutions often involve incentives, locum programs, and reassigning staff to areas of greatest need.

Investing in Technology and Telehealth

Technology is being leveraged to ease demand. Telehealth consultations allow patients to see specialists virtually, cutting down unnecessary in-person visits and helping prioritize who needs face-to-face care most urgently.

Some hospitals are also experimenting with artificial intelligence to optimize scheduling and reduce cancellations. These tools can identify gaps in the OR schedule and slot in patients more efficiently.

Expanding Public-Private Partnerships

While Canada remains committed to universal public healthcare, some provinces are cautiously exploring partnerships with private facilities to increase capacity. For instance, Saskatchewan has contracted private surgical clinics to perform publicly funded procedures, aiming to shorten the wait for orthopaedic surgeries.

This approach remains controversial, with critics concerned about creating two-tiered access. However, proponents argue that when managed carefully, it can help reduce backlog without undermining equity.

Policy and Funding Commitments

At the federal level, the Canada Health Transfer has been adjusted to increase funding tied to specific outcomes, including reducing wait times. In 2023, the federal government pledged an additional $46 billion in health funding over ten years, with provinces agreeing to improve reporting and transparency on metrics like surgical delays and emergency department performance. More details are available on the Government of Canada health funding portal.

Conclusion: Navigating Canada’s Wait Times

Healthcare wait times in Canada remain a pressing challenge in 2025. While progress has been made since the height of the pandemic, many patients still face months of waiting for surgeries, diagnostics, and specialist consultations. The problem is shaped by workforce shortages, capacity limits, and an ageing population that drives higher demand.

For patients, the key is to stay proactive. Understanding your priority status, exploring alternate providers, managing health while waiting, and advocating when needed can make the experience more manageable. Provinces are also making changes—expanding surgical capacity, centralizing wait lists, and investing in workforce growth—to reduce delays over the long term.

The reality is that wait times won’t disappear overnight, but they don’t have to leave patients powerless. By staying informed, engaged, and prepared, Canadians can better navigate the system while governments and health providers work toward lasting solutions.

If you want to stay updated on healthcare policy and patient resources, consider exploring trusted government tools like CIHI’s wait time reports and your province’s public wait-time dashboards. They provide real-time updates that can help you plan your care with more clarity.

FAQ