More than 895,000 patients waiting to see a specialist in Quebec

Electrophysiologist Dr. Alexios Hadjis performs a ventricular tachycardia ablation at Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur, Wednesday, July 26, 2023 in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press) (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

More than 895,000 patients are waiting to see a specialist in Quebec, which is almost 200,000 more patients than three years ago, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health.

The number of patients seen within the deadline has remained relatively stable in recent years, while the trend for patients waiting outside the deadline has been upwards.

As of Dec. 14, 2024, nearly 340,000 Quebecers were waiting beyond the deadline, representing 62 per cent of patients waiting to see a specialist. The Ministry of Health’s target is to reach 35 per cent of patients waiting outside the waiting period by March 31, 2025.

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The specialists with the most consultations on hold are ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists. Nearly 121,000 patients are waiting to see an ENT doctor, more than half of whom are waiting beyond the deadline. Dermatology is the second most popular speciality, with 110,000 patients on the waiting list, 73,000 of whom are waiting beyond the deadline.

The ministry’s scorecard also shows that the number of consultations carried out by specialist doctors has been rising since last summer. They rose from 49,000 on Aug. 24 to almost 64,000 on Dec. 14.

As for surgeries, more have been carried out since August, reaching almost 40,000 by mid-December. This seems to be having an impact on the number of patients on the waiting list, which has fallen from 162,000 on Sept. 21 to just over 155,000 on Dec. 14.

Fewer patients waiting for more than a year

Another positive indicator is that the number of patients waiting for an operation for more than a year has fallen significantly. Approximately 8,800 patients are in this situation, and the ministry’s target is to reach 2300 patients by March 31, 2025.

Last week, Health Minister Christian Dubé was pleased with this result.

“Fewer than 10,000 people have now been waiting for surgery for more than a year, a first since 2020. Thank you to the staff involved. We are continuing our work to reach our targets and to ensure that no one has to wait this long,’ he wrote on X.

Last November, Dubé acknowledged that the government’s target for catching up on surgeries would not be met by December 2024. After missing his targets for 2021 and 2022, the Minister wanted to reduce the number of patients waiting for surgery to 2,500 by Dec. 31, 2024.

The Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ) has still not signed a framework agreement with the government, which expired on April 1, 2023. Among other things, this agreement governs the remuneration of medical specialists.

On X, the FMSQ announced last week that by 2024 around 30 per cent of the network’s 563 operating theatres would be closed due to a lack of staff.

“Specialists are ready to operate and the funds to pay the staff are available. It is now up to Santé Québec to catch up on surgeries and ensure that additional operating theatres are opened,” wrote the federation.

FMSQ vice-president Dr. Serge Legault added to this issue.

“We’ve been telling the ministry for four years that we’re here to operate, we’ll always be here, we haven’t broken our word. But now the Ministry or Santé Quebec has to get organised so that staff can be present. It won’t be a problem to pay them, the sums have already been set aside,” he says on X.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 15, 2025.