Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

140
Health systems in transition Canada
Table 7.4
Percentage of patients receiving care within pan-Canadian benchmarks, by province,
2011
Radiation
therapy Cardiac
for cancer bypass
(< 4 weeks) (< 2–26 weeks)
Cataract
removal
(< 16 weeks)
Hip
replacement
(< 26 weeks)
Knee
Hip
replacement fracture repair
(< 26 weeks) (< 48 hours)
British Columbia 67 79 76 76 99 76
Alberta 98 95 59 80 70 81
Saskatchewan 99 100 58 75 62 84
Manitoba 100 97 71 59 52 85
Ontario 97 100 88 90 85 78
Quebec 99 – a 88 82 78 – a
New Brunswick 95 99 85 72 53 83
Nova Scotia 83 100 65 62 44 79
Prince Edward Island 96 – b 67 71 55 81
Newfoundland
and Labrador
96 100 71 82 62 87
Canada 97 99 82 82 75 79
Source: CIHI (2012b). a Data provided in a form that was not comparable to other jurisdictions and therefore omitted;
b There are no cardiac bypass surgeons in Prince Edward Island and residents are sent to other provinces for this health service.
Some additional light has been thrown on this question by various scholars
who have analysed the results of the Joint Canada–United States Survey of
Health, 2002–2003. Both countries demonstrate a positive correlation between
income and population health, but in the lowest income quintile, Canadians are
healthier than Americans. Similarly, at lower levels of education, Canadians
are healthier than Americans, a result attributed at least in part to the policy of
universal medicare (Lasser, Himmelstein & Woolhandler, 2006; Eng & Feeny,
2007; McGrail et al., 2009).
Certain socioeconomic groups, particularly Canadian Aboriginal
populations, have extremely low health status and health outcomes relative to
the majority of the population. In part because of its fiduciary responsibilities
for First Nations and Inuit, the federal government has funded and administered
a large number of targeted population and public health programmes in an effort
to narrow the gap in health disparities. In recent years, provincial and territorial
governments have also initiated targeted policies and programmes. Despite
these many efforts, a significant health disparity remains (Frohlick, Ross &
Richmond, 2006; Loppie Reading & Wien, 2009).
In the 2006 census, immigrants made up nearly 20% of the Canadian
population, and this percentage is forecast to be in excess of 25% by 2031. In
contrast to Aboriginal peoples, immigrants in Canada tend, on average, to