By Nigel Maxwell

Wait times report does not reflect reality for northern families: Saskatoon mother

Dec 7, 2018 | 11:00 AM

A new report from the Fraser Institute indicates the wait time to see a specialist in Saskatchewan is the lowest in the country, but according to one Saskatoon mother, the report does not reflect the actual experiences for families living North of Saskatoon.

Lindsay Arnesen made the decision last March to move to Saskatoon from Prince Albert, so she could get in to see a specialist sooner. Arnesen’s seven-year-old son was diagnosed with severe anxiety and attention deficit disorder and Arnesen was told the wait time to see a psychologist would be six months. During this time Arnesen herself was involved in a bad accident and suffered a right orbital fracture to her skull. She said she was told by doctors the wait time to see a neurologist would be over six months.

“Upon moving to Saskatoon in March we were able to deal with a specialist within a one-month time frame,” she said.

Arnesen said she is not alone with her specialist concerns — citing one friend she knows who is constantly travelling back and from Edmonton. Arnesen’s own situation has improved greatly since moving to Saskatoon, as both her and her son are able to see a neurologist and a pediatrician on a regular schedule. While relieved to receive better care, Arnesen said it’s frustrating to think what she had to go through to make it happen.

“I mean I left behind my career, I left behind a lot of things just because I guess there wasn’t really proper resources there [in Prince Albert] for my family and I,” she said.

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According to the Fraser Institute’s annual survey of Canadian specialists, the median wait time for Saskatchewan patients receiving specialist services was estimated at 15.4 weeks. Saskatchewan was one of only two provinces that did not show an increase in the number of procedures for which patients are waiting.

“Since 2007, our government has recruited 487 new specialists, an increase of 62 per cent,” Health Minister Jim Reiter said in a statement. “We are pleased that the survey indicates patients are getting to see specialists sooner, but we recognize there is still more work to do.”

The survey also suggested Saskatchewan patients have the shortest waits for specialist consultations after referral by a family doctor (6.3 weeks), compared to the longest waits in New Brunswick (28.5 weeks). 

The health critic for Saskatchewan’s official opposition said she heard other stories like Arnesen’s, and added the Fraser Institute report had many flaws.

“There was only a 17 per cent response rate right across Canada and only three per cent of doctors in Saskatchewan responded so there’s a question of whether its representative,” Saskatoon–Fairview MLA Vicki Mowat said.

Mowat said she finds it even more troubling that the report’s conclusion vary greatly from the data received through ministry itself, which she pointed out has a very intricate system of tracking data.

“It’s frankly rather embarrassing the government is just touting this other report when their own numbers are about double when you look at seeing a specialist,” she said.

Mowat said she did not have a breakdown on the numbers from region to region in the province, but added she knew as a whole, wait times to see a specialist in Saskatchewan have grown 30 per cent in the past three years.

“You know some of that is to be expected in different areas of the province, we can’t provide the exact same level of care, but we can certainly be doing a lot better than we are,” she said.

When asked by paNOW what the NDP might do differently to improve the situation, Mowat said the first step would be to acknowledge the problem, and work with the experts in the field to find a better way to retain specialists.

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell