Table 1 
Wait time of Canadians who had an initial consultation with a medical specialist in the 12 months prior to the survey, Canada, excluding territories, 2024 

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Wait time of Canadians who had an initial consultation with a medical specialist in the 12 months prior to the survey, Canada, excluding territories, 2024
  Less than one month One month to less than three months Three months to less than six months Six months to less than a year One year to less than two years Two years or more
  %%%%%%
Total 34.5 29.7 17.6 11.4 4.7 2.1
Gender            
Men+ (reference) 36.0 30.5 17.9 9.6 4.0 2.1
Women+ 33.2 29.1 17.4 13.0* 5.3 2.1
Age group            
18 to 44 years 34.0 27.8 19.2 11.6 4.9 2.4
45 to 64 years 31.8* 30.9 16.7 12.8 5.6 2.1
65 years and older (reference) 37.9 30.9 16.4 9.7 3.6 1.6
Province            
Newfoundland and Labrador 27.5 28.4 20.3 13.8 6.6* 3.4
Prince Edward Island 35.4 25.4 13.6* 11.9 7.7* 6.1*
Nova Scotia 33.4 26.5 16.8 11.1 8.5* 3.7
New Brunswick 34.8 28.4 16.0 9.9 6.8* 4.1
Quebec 41.6* 26.7 12.6* 10.0 5.5 3.5
Ontario (reference) 33.3 30.8 19.5 11.2 3.4 1.7
Manitoba 30.9 29.4 19.3 13.3 5.9 1.2
Saskatchewan 30.5 31.3 19.3 11.8 5.4 1.7
Alberta 32.0 30.5 17.7 12.3 5.9 1.6
British Columbia 30.9 31.1 19.1 13.1 5.0 0.7
Area of residence            
Population centre (reference) 34.4 30.2 17.7 11.4 4.4 1.9
Rural Area 34.7 26.9 17.4 11.4 6.6 3.1
Referral Type            
By a healthcare professional (reference) 30.6 31.3 18.8 12.0 5.1 2.2
Self-referred 66.3* 16.6* 7.6* 6.8* 2.1* 0.7*
Regular health care provider            
Has a regular health care provider (reference) 33.8 30.2 17.8 11.6 4.6 2.0
Has no regular health care provider 39.8 26.2 15.8 10.1 5.5 2.6
Health Condition            
Heart condition or stroke 38.3 29.7 19.6 10.0 1.8 0.5
Cancer (reference) 46.9 32.0 12.4 4.9 0.8 3.0
Asthma or other breathing condition 34.9 32.9 10.7 14.1* 6.2* 1.3
Mental health condition 48.3 27.6 11.7 7.3 3.1 2.0
Diabetes 39.9 24.0 16.3 18.6 1.0 0.2
*
significantly different from reference category (p < 0.05)
Note(s):
  • A regular health care provider refers to any health professional that a person routinely consults when seeking care or health advice. This broad category includes primary health care providers as well as medical specialists and other health professionals. The indicator regular health care provider differs from primary health care provider, which is limited to family doctors, general practitioners, and nurse practitioners. Caution should be exercised when comparing these indicators, as their definitions and scopes are not equivalent.
  • Given that the non-binary population is small, data aggregation to a two-category gender variable is sometimes necessary to protect the confidentiality of responses. In these cases, individuals in the non-binary people category are distributed into the other two gender categories. Unless otherwise indicated in the text, the men+ category includes men, as well as some non-binary people, while the women+ category includes women, as well as some non-binary people.
Source(s):
Survey on Health Care Access and Experiences — Primary and Specialist Care, January 3 to November 3, 2024 (5391).
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