Access to Specialist Gastroenterology Care in Canada: Comparison of Wait Times and Consensus Targets

BACKGROUND: Monitoring wait times and defining targets for care have been advocated to improve health care delivery related to cancer, heart, diagnostic imaging, joint replacements and sight restoration. There are few data on access to care for digestive diseases, although they pose a greater econom...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Desmond Leddin, David Armstrong, Alan NG Barkun, Ying Chen, Sandra Daniels, Roger Hollingworth, Richard H Hunt, William G Paterson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2008-01-01
Series:Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2008/479684
Description
Summary:BACKGROUND: Monitoring wait times and defining targets for care have been advocated to improve health care delivery related to cancer, heart, diagnostic imaging, joint replacements and sight restoration. There are few data on access to care for digestive diseases, although they pose a greater economic burden than cancer or heart disease in Canada. The present study compared wait times for specialist gastroenterology care with recent, evidence-based, consensus-defined benchmark wait times for a range of digestive diseases.
ISSN:0835-7900