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WAIT TIMES FOR GI CONSULTATION IN CANADA: THE PATIENT PERSPECTIVE

WG Paterson¹, AN Barkun², WM Hopman¹, DJ Leddin³, P Paré⁴, DM Petrunia⁵, MJ Sewitch², C Switzer⁶, SV Van Zanten^3
1Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario; ²McGill University, Montreal, Quebec; ³Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; ⁴Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec; ⁵Victoria General Hospital, Victoria, British Columbia; ⁶University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta

Long wait times for access to health care have become a significant issue in Canada. As part of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology's Human Resource initiative, a questionnaire was developed to survey patients concerning wait time for initial gastroenterology consultation and its impact. Patients were asked to complete the questionnaire when they arrived in the outpatient clinic/office for a first time consultation. A total of 916 patients (59% female; 26% francophone) completed the questionnaire in six cities across Canada (Victoria, Edmonton, Kingston, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax). Self-reported wait times varied widely, with 26.8% reporting waiting <2 weeks, 52.4% <1 month and 77.1% <3 months. 12.5% reported waiting >6 months and 3.6% >1 year. One-third of patients felt their wait time was too long, with 10% rating their wait time as 'far too long'. 96.4% felt that maximal wait time should be <3 months, 78.9% felt it should be <1 month, and 40.3% felt it should be <2 weeks. Of those working or attending school, 22.6% reported missing at least one day of work or school because of their symptoms in the month before their appointment. 9.0% reported missing five or more days in the preceding month. 20.2% reported being very worried about having a serious disease (ie, scored ³6 on 7 point Likert scale), and 17.6% and 14.8% reported that their symptoms caused major impairment of social functioning and activities of daily living, respectively. There were marked variations in responses between the six sites. For instance, the proportion of patients seen in <2 weeks varied from 41.4% to 5.4%, and proportion waiting >6 months varied from 0.7% to 29.2%. This partly relates to variations in reasons for referral, which suggests that some sites are weighting their practice to deal primarily with more urgent cases. These data indicate that a significant proportion of Canadians with digestive problems are not satisfied with their wait time for gastroenterology consultation. Furthermore, while awaiting consultation, a significant number of patients experience impaired quality of life due to their GI symptoms.
Supported by the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology

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