Alberta cataract surgery wait times tied for second-last in Canada

If you're waiting for cataractsurgery in Alberta, you're far from alone.

No other province except Manitoba had longer wait times for the priority eye procedure, according to the latest report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), released Thursday.

Just 64 per cent of Albertansin need of cataract surgery actually had the procedure done within the benchmark waiting time of 16 weeks, the report found.

Click on this interactive graph to see wait time benchmarks for various procedures, by province:

That put our province in a three-way tie with British Columbia and Nova Scotia for second-last in the country. Only Manitoba had worse performance, with 41 per cent of cataract patients getting surgery within 16 weeks.

Our neighbours to the east in Saskatchewan, by comparison, got their cataract surgeries within the benchmark wait time 96 per cent of the time.

Nationwide, the average was 76 per cent.

Alberta fares better on knees, hips, radiation

On other procedures, Alberta fared better, hovering just above or just below the national average.

Albertans needing hip replacements received the surgery within the benchmark 26-week waiting period 83 per cent of the time, compared to 81 per cent across Canada.

For hip-fracture repairs, Alberta hit the 48-hour benchmark 86 per cent of the time, compared to 87 per cent nationally.

Alberta hit the 26-week target for knee replacements79 per cent of the time, just above the Canada-wide mark of 77 percent.

And on radiation therapy, Alberta matched the national average of 98 per cent patients receiving treatment within 28 days.

Overall, Alberta's wait timeseither improved or stayed roughly thesame compared to five years earlier.

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