Health-Care Wait Times Grew Longer in 2020, Report Finds Wait times in Canada’s health-care system as of the end of 2020 have increased to a point that they are much longer than what physicians would consider clinically “reasonable,” according to a new survey report from the Fraser Institute think tank. Based on data collected from specialist physicians across 12 specialities and 10 provinces between Jan. 7 and Oct. 1 2020, the report concludes that wait times for required treatment have increased since last year. The median wait time between referral by a general practitioner and consultation with a specialist increased to 10.5 weeks in 2020, compared with 10.1 weeks in 2019. And the median wait time between consultation with a specialist and receipt of actual treatment increased to 12.1 weeks in 2020, compared with 10.8 weeks in 2019. Physicians deem a 7.8-week wait time between consultation and treatment to be clinically “reasonable,” the report says, and 12.1 weeks is 4.3 weeks longer than that.