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Access and wait times

Access and wait times jtseng_master

CIHI provides timely and comparable data and information to guide decisions about improving both access to care and wait times for receiving a health service. For some services, this information includes the proportion of patients treated within benchmark time frames. Explore information on access and wait times, including indicators, data tables, reports and other key resources.

Featured material

Drugs for rare diseases

  • Project
  • November 21, 2024
CIHI is working to improve the collection and use of real-world evidence about drugs for rare diseases as part of the National Strategy for Drugs for Rare Diseases.

Commonwealth Fund survey, 2023

  • Release summary
  • March 21, 2024
The 2023 Commonwealth Fund survey looked at the views and health care experiences of the general population age 18+ in 10 high-income countries, including Canada.

Indicators

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Reports and releases

See all reports and releases

Access and wait times: Reports and releases

Access and wait times: Reports and releases jtseng_master

This page lists access and wait time reports, stories, infographics and release summaries.

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NACRS emergency department visits and lengths of stay

  • Release summary
  • Published
Learn more about emergency department visits and lengths of stay by province and territory, based on data submitted to the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System.

Organ donation and transplantation data and reporting

  • Report
  • Published
This release features a set of national and provincial volumes, infographics and 13 priority system performance indicators for deceased donation, living donation and transplantation up to 2023.

Differences in primary care access across populations

  • Report
  • Published
See results for CIHI’s indicator Visits to the Emergency Department for Conditions That Could Be Managed in Primary Care by age, urban vs. rural/remote area, time of day and other factors.

Health workforce and surgeries

  • Report
  • Published
A look at Canada’s supply of health care workers, surgical volumes and wait times.

Access and wait times: Data tables

Access and wait times: Data tables jtseng_master

This page lists data tables that provide information about access and wait times.

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Access and wait times: Indicators

Access and wait times: Indicators jtseng_master

This page lists CIHI’s access and wait time indicators.

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Caregiver Distress

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator provides the percentage of long-stay home care clients whose unpaid caregivers experience distress in a 1-year period.

Death at Home or in Community

  • Indicator
  • Published
​​This indicator provides the percentage of Canadians who die at home or in the community each year.

Hip Fracture Surgery Within 48 Hours

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator calculates the proportion of hip fractures surgically treated within 48 hours of a patient’s initial admission to an acute care hospital, among patients age 18 and older.

Access and wait times: Tools

Access and wait times: Tools jtseng_master

This page lists CIHI’s performance reporting tools that contain access and wait time data.

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Data Preview for Indicators Tool

  • Tool
  • Published
The Data Preview for Indicators web tool is used by stakeholders to review or validate their indicator results before they are made publicly available.

NACRS Clinic Lite

  • Tool
  • Published
Canadian ambulatory clinics can use NACRS Clinic Lite for low-cost data collection and data reporting.

Your Health System: In Brief

  • Tool
  • Published
Your Health System: In Brief is an interactive health information tool that explores the five themes that Canadians told us were the most important.

Your Health System: In Depth

  • Tool
  • Published
Explore Canadian health care and compare interactive data by hospital, long-term care organization, region and more

Your Health System: Insight

  • Tool
  • Published
Your Health System: Insight is an analytical tool that allows health care providers and analysts to dig deeper into indicator results. Find out more about what Insight can offer, how to get access and the data refresh schedule.

Access and wait times: Data holdings

Access and wait times: Data holdings jtseng_master

This page contains information about CIHI’s access and wait time data holdings. 

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Commonwealth Fund metadata

  • Metadata
  • Published
Source, data coverage, data availability, data elements and data quality of The Commonwealth Fund (CMWF).

Wait time metadata

  • Metadata
  • Published
Metadata on surgical procedure wait times, including hip and knee replacement, hip fracture repair, cataract surgery, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), radiation therapy and diagnostic imaging (MRI and CT scan).

Access and wait times: News and podcasts

Access and wait times: News and podcasts jtseng_master

This page contains media releases, bulletins and podcast episodes about access and wait times.

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Going the Distance

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
A mother and her seriously ill son travel from Nunavut to Ottawa to a special clinic set up to meet the needs of Inuit families accessing medical care.

Shared Health Priorities indicators, June 2024

  • Bulletin
  • Published
New indicators for 4 priority areas: primary health care; health workforce and surgeries; mental health and substance use; and electronic health information.

Palliative Care in Canada — Bernard Lapointe and Philippe Miquel

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this episode of the CHIP, host Alya Niang speaks with McGill University professor Bernard Lapointe and documentary filmmaker Philippe Miquel about the state of palliative care in Canada and why it is such a critical part of health care.

Palliative Care in Canada — Dr. Naheed Dosani

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Naheed Dosani about the state of palliative care in Canada and why it is such a critical part of health care.

Virtual Care in Canada — Dr. Ewan Affleck

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Ewan Affleck about the future of virtual care in Canada and why he is so passionate about continuing its growth.

Virtual Care in Canada — Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this episode of the CHIP, host Alya Niang speaks with Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya about the future of virtual care in Canada and why he is so passionate about continuing its growth.

Surgical Wait Times in Canada — Dr. Etienne Belzile

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this episode of the CHIP, host Alya Niang speaks with Dr. Etienne Belzile about the causes of surgical backlogs in Canada and what could be done to fix the problems for the long term.

Access and wait times: Education resources

Access and wait times: Education resources kathschach

Through our Learning Centre, CIHI provides opportunities for health professionals to understand our evolving reporting systems and the application of our standards, data and analytics. We offer many courses and resources for a variety of audiences, including clinicians, assessors, data submitters and analysts, decision-makers, policy planners and researchers.

Courses and resources are available in a variety of formats, including eLearning modules, PDF and page-based documents, live and recorded web conferences, and videos.

On this page:

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With 300 learning products in a variety of areas, we’re sure to have something that meets your needs — and our online courses will always fit your schedule.

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Other education resources

Resources offered through CIHI include the following:

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Canadian seniors and access to specialists

  • Video
  • Published
Tracy Johnson, CIHI's director of Health System Analysis and Emerging Issues, discusses the survey's key findings for access to specialist care for Canadian seniors in this video.

Canadian seniors and medical assistance in dying

  • Video
  • Published
Tracy Johnson, CIHI's director of Health System Analysis and Emerging Issues, discusses the survey's findings for the views of Canadian seniors on medical assistance in dying in this video.

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