Wait times for cataract surgery in Alberta among the worst in Canada

CTV Calgary: New report on wait times A new Canadian report says patients are receiving surgery for certain procedures within appropriate timeframes. Jordan Kanygin reports.

A new report says that patients waiting for priority procedures are getting the help they need within the appropriate time frame, but there are a few major exceptions here in Alberta.

The report, from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, says that the average wait time for cataract surgery in the province is four months and it claims that most provinces can get it done in half that time.

However, in Alberta, only 58 percent of patients are able to get it done in four months and some of the wait times for cataract surgery are upwards of eight months long.

Manitoba is the only province that has fewer patients meeting that benchmark.

The good news is that the others areas studied in the report have a higher completion rate in Alberta within target areas.

According to the report, 82 percent can get a hip replacement within the recommended six months and 77 percent of people needing knee replacements can get it done within that time period too.

Cataract surgery has seen a big drop in the completion rate from 69 percent in 2012.

Another major delay was discovered by the report as well.

Wait times for CT scans was 36 days in 2012, but now the average wait time is 92 days, one of the longest in the entire country.