Rich, poor, the wait is the same

Samuel Shortt and Ralph Shaw report that Canada's health system does a good job of providing equitable service in terms of waiting times for elective surgery.

Shortt and Shaw reviewed the medical charts of all patients who underwent elective surgery at a Kingston academic health centre between 1992 and 1999, and they compared waiting times for surgery for people with low socioeconomic status to those living in areas with high socioeconomic status. The authors state there was no relation between socioeconomic status and waiting time for elective surgical procedures.

"It has been suggested that a valuable approach to monitoring the impact of the health reforms is to track trends in service delivery to society's most vulnerable groups," conclude the authors. "Our results suggest … that efficiency does not appear to have been purchased at the price of equity."

p. 413 Equity in Canadian health care: Does socioeconomic status affect waiting times for elective surgery? -- S.E.D. Shortt, R.A. Shaw

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