top of page
Writer's pictureClayton DeMaine

Three-year wait for patient to see an Ontario ear, nose, and throat specialist

By Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire July 8, 2024

Source: Unsplash

An Ontario doctor is sounding off about the three years one of his patients has to wait to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist.


A year after requesting a consult with an ENT for a patient with hearing loss and tinnitus, or ear ringing, Dr. Mike Hart received a written note from another doctor informing him his patient would likely have to wait over three years to see him.


“Due to an overwhelming number of referrals, the current wait time for non-urgent referral is 36+ months,” the note read. 


“There are a lot of people out there who have had something similar happen,” Hart, a London, Ont. physician, told True North in an interview. “Maybe it hasn’t been three years like with that particular patient,  But they may have had a situation where they had to wait six months, 12 months, one month, two months.”


He said wait times in Canada have gradually worsened over the last ten years of his practice, driving people to seek medical treatment abroad.


“Even my own fiancée had to seek medical care elsewhere, and she had surgery in Greece because the wait times in Canada were too inappropriate,” Hart said.



Comments


bottom of page