A new Statistics Canada report says half a million seniors had trouble getting special care from doctors.
StatCan estimated more than 4.5 million people 65 and older visited medical specialists.
They want non-emergency tests or non-emergency surgeries.
Canadian seniors demand specialized care
More than 15 per cent of seniors reported they could not access those services.
Common barriers included trouble getting a referral. They had difficulty getting an appointment. They waited a long time. Services were not available at the time they were needed.
The report says older women were less likely than older men to visit medical specialists.
Canadian seniors demand specialized care
It also says seniors with a lower education level had not used specialized health-care.
The report says seniors with ongoing physical illness or mental health issues will need specialized health services.
StatCan says the study highlights the importance of considering gender and overall physical and mental health.
The agency used a representative sample of 39,047 Canadians age 65 and older to identify the patterns.
As Canada’s population ages at a rapid rate, a new study from the C.D. Howe Institute(opens in a new tab) suggests the country can do more to improve access to seniors’ care and overall equity in the health system.
The study compares the performance of seniors’ care in Canada and its provinces to that of other wealthy nations using data from the Commonwealth Fund, a U.S.-based foundation dedicated to improving health-care systems, and identifies areas for improvement.
The foundation’s 2021 International Health Policy Survey of Older Adults survey(opens in a new tab) focused on a random sample of seniors aged 65 and older in 11 developed countries and asked about their experiences, interactions and perceptions of the health-care system and health providers.
Among the countries surveyed, Canada ranked eighth in seniors’ care — ahead only of France, the U.K. and Sweden.
