Nova Scotia patients endure crippling wait times

In a recent interview, provincial Health Minister Michelle Thompson said the Houston government is improving access to primary health care in Nova Scotia, but according to the data, the province now trails the rest of the country on non-emergency surgery wait times.

While Canadians consistently experience some of the longest delays compared to other high-income countries with universal health care, the total wait time for medically necessary care in Nova Scotia is 56.7 weeks, the longest in Canada. And this is despite the province being one of the highest per-person spenders on health care in the country.

If we break down Nova Scotia’s wait times, we see both the median time it takes to see a specialist after a referral from a family physician (28.3 weeks) and the wait to receive treatment after seeing said specialist (28.4 weeks). These figures underscore the real human and economic costs of long waits, which can inflict physical, psychological and financial harms on patients—particularly if you lose the ability to work.

One recent study measures these harms by attaching a dollar value to the time lost by patients waiting for medical care. And with just under 89,000 procedures being waited for by patients, the 28.4-week wait for medical care in Nova Scotia cost patients $416 million in lost wages.

These waits cost some patients more than others, depending on the situation.

For example, last year’s 25.2-week wait for orthopaedic treatments (e.g. hip and knee replacements) was three months longer than what doctors in Nova Scotia considered reasonable, and cost patients in the province nearly $13 million in lost wages. Even waits for care that were close to what was considered reasonable, such as the waits for an ophthalmologist to remove cataracts and treat glaucoma, cost patients $11 million in lost salary. And waits for a general surgeon in 2023 (for procedures such as gallbladder removals and hernia repairs) cost Nova Scotians $33.5 million in lost wages.

And crucially, these estimates do not include the time it takes to see a family doctor or specialist in the first place; two crucial steps that affect most Nova Scotian patients.

While politicians often tell us that we benefit from “free” health care, in reality, long waits are part in parcel to how our current system rations care. These waits actually cost the average patient in several different ways, be it through taxes, the pain and anxiety of waiting for health care, lost time with family and friends, and forgone wages from not being able to work.

Until the Nova Scotia government enacts fundamental reform, we’re unlikely to see genuine relief from costly waits for health care in the province.