Last year, Canadians could expect a median wait of 27.4 weeks between referral to a specialist and receipt of treatment.
health care reform
Canada ranked last on access to specialist visits in under four weeks.
Patients in the province faced a median wait of 20.3 weeks between seeing a general practitioner and receiving treatment in 2022.
Last year, Canadians could expect to wait 25.6 weeks from referral by a family physician to elective surgical care.
According to the province’s official figures, at least 88,300 patients continue to languish on surgical wait lists.
The province's median wait time was about three months longer than the Canadian average.
Albertans waited 32.1 weeks for medically necessary treatment—6.5 weeks longer than the Canadian average.
In 2019, more than 166,000 patients in the province were waiting for treatment after seeing a specialist.
Saskatchewan cut surgical wait times by, among other reforms, partnering with private clinics.