B.C.’s consultant specialists push province to reduce bloated waitlists

B.C.’s consultant specialists are sounding the alarm about growing patient waitlists and are recommending ways the province can reduce them.

In 2022, one million British Columbians were on a waitlist to see a specialist. By 2024, that number has jumped to 1.2 million. And preliminary data from a new survey conducted by Consultant Specialists of B.C. suggests it’s still growing in 2025.

“So it just speaks to the big backlog that’s building where important stuff is getting pushed out further and further away. And right now, nothing has really been done to create efficiencies in this system,” said CSBC president Dr. Robert Carruthers.

Frustrated with what they see as a lack of action from the province, the Consultant Specialists of B.C. has launched a new campaign called “Every Number is a Story.”

“We put forward some solutions, and one of them includes a database to get a sense of where people are waiting and for what service. And that will help us a great deal with planning how to get us out of this situation,” said Carruthers.

The campaign also calls on the province to ensure specialists have time in their day to stay on top of their waitlists, and give family doctors the option of recommending a patient gets written advice from a specialist rather than an in-person appointment.

“And that will create efficiency in the system, which will help us bring down the waitlists,” said Carruthers.

Health Minister Josie Osborne says the province is looking at the specialists’ proposal.

“The last thing anybody wants to do is to have to wait to see a specialist,” said Osborne. “I really appreciate the work that the specialists have done, and they’ve submitted their proposal. And in the Ministry of Health, we’re really looking forward to reviewing that proposal.”

The proposal from specialists comes on the heels of a letter signed by 130 Obstetricians and Gynecologists warning of “untenable and unsafe conditions” that led to mass resignations at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

“It looks like about 70 per cent of sites will be facing a Kamloops-like situation in the next five years,” said Dr. Chelsea Elwood with the Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology B.C. “And what that situation is, is a struggle to continue to provide maternity services from OB-GYNs across the province, such that women and pregnant people can deliver their babies safely in their home communities.”

Kamloops MLA Peter Milobar said it’s time for the province to act.

“We’re hearing concerns from cardiology, we’re hearing concerns from urology, from radiology. And now, obviously the OB-GYNs. And so, the specialists and the waitlists, every time we see these types of removal of these services out of the system, it’s just going to put that much more pressure on every other specialty and every other waitlist,” said Milobar.

Carruthers said it’s crucial the province sits down with the specialists now to address the issue.

“The risk in not doing anything is that the waitlist will build, and inevitably, we’ll miss things,” Carruthers said. “We will not be able to intervene in a way to save a person’s life.”