Health Care Wait Times and Mortality - Canada, UK, Poland, US

[Melensdad]

This was posted by my parish priest on Facebook. He sourced "Ryan Fourier" but I can't vouch for the source.



Canada’s Wait-Time Crisis Compared to the World
here are the wait times:

Canada
• MRI: 80–90 days average
• CT: 60–70 days
• Surgery: 30 weeks median wait
• Deaths while waiting: 23,746

Poland
• MRI: 7–14 days (private pathway)
• CT: Same week with private option
• Surgeries: Weeks, not months
• Deaths while waiting: tiny fraction of Canada

United States
• MRI: 24–48 hours (insured)
• CT: Same day
• Surgeries: Days or weeks
• Deaths while waiting: not tracked… because wait-lists are rare

United Kingdom (NHS)
• MRI: 25–35 days
• CT: 1–3 weeks
• Surgeries: long waits, but far fewer die waiting
• Deaths while waiting: ≈310
Now the real problem…
⸻

23,746 Canadians died waiting for surgery or scans last year
This is not normal.
This is not happening anywhere else in the developed world.
And it’s getting worse.
⸻

Canada
23,746 deaths while on wait-lists (2024–25).
Months for MRIs. Months for CTs. Months for surgery.
The longest waits in the developed world… and the highest death toll from delays.
⸻

Poland
Public system with a legal private option…
• MRI in 7–14 days
• Surgeries in weeks, not half-a-year
No national crisis of patients dying waiting for care.
Poland proves that choice shortens waits.
⸻

United States
The US issues are about cost — not speed.
Urgent care is immediate. Elective surgery is fast.
They don’t track “died waiting for surgery” because wait-lists almost never exist.
⸻

United Kingdom (NHS)
Even a struggling NHS reports ≈310 deaths linked to delayed major surgery.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Those facts are skewed. If you need an mri or CT urgently, after going through the whole er process, if the Dr on duty determines you need an mri immediately, it's done. No questions asked. And no cost. As for Dr appointments and referrals and wait times on those, I can only comment on my recent experience. I made an appointment with my family Dr a month ago for my back. Saw him 2 weeks ago. Got a referral for an xray. I booked it when it was convenient for me and that was a week later. I just received the results via email and an appointment with my family doctor next week to review. Then we'll go from there. It may be another mri required. It'll be interesting to see if there's a wait for that.

 

[Kevlar]

And just think that Canada has the lowest population out of all the comparisons. I'd even bet that the numbers would be higher, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't know of someone who died waiting for care or ended up dying because of an undiagnosed illness that wasn't caught in time because of delays in diagnosis or even being able to get into a doctor.

 

[Melensdad]

Those facts are skewed. If you need an mri or CT urgently, after going through the whole er process, if the Dr on duty determines you need an mri immediately, it's done. No questions asked. And no cost. As for Dr appointments and referrals and wait times on those, I can only comment on my recent experience. I made an appointment with my family Dr a month ago for my back. Saw him 2 weeks ago. Got a referral for an xray. I booked it when it was convenient for me and that was a week later. I just received the results via email and an appointment with my family doctor next week to review. Then we'll go from there. It may be another mri required. It'll be interesting to see if there's a wait for that.

So I think this is illustrative of URGENT versus NEEDED care?

In the US, if you have any insurance, and almost everyone here has insurance, the wait times are measured in hours or days. Not weeks or months. I can't speak for Canada, Poland or the UK.

I walked into the "immediate care" facility near me for a wrist injury after a fall a couple months ago. "Immediate care" is not an emergency room or a hospital, it is a doctor's office that is tied to a care facility for those who don't have an appointment but also are not dying/seriously injured/etc. I went in several days after I fell and hurt myself. I got an X-Ray approximately 15 minutes later, before I even got a consult with the doctor . . . waited about 15-20 minutes after the X-ray to see the doctor and had a CT scan within 15 minutes. I was at the office for a grand total of under 2 hours. Had 2 consults with the doctor, 1 X-Ray and 1 CT scan. And the results for the X-Ray were provided between consult 2 and 3 and the results from the CT scan were before consult 3. The longest wait was between the CT and final consult, that was over 30 minutes and they apologized for the wait time.

Insurance covered all but a $30 co-payment.

It turned out to be a ganglion (sp??) cyst. Unrelated to the fall. Not a medical emergency.

Quite a few years ago I had a kidney stone blockage. I needed a lithotripsy. That was probably an URGENT issue, at least as I understood it. I was given the option of 3 different dates at 3 different hospitals while I was in my urologists office. 48 hours later it was done at the hospital of my choice. I don't recall the cost, but it was just my co-pay for the office visit and the deductible for the procedure (probably about 10% of the cost).