The province's auditor general said in her annual report that the province is spending millions to send patients to the U.S. for stem cell transplants due to limited capacity for treatment. The average cost of sending a patient south of the border for the treatment was found to be $660,000, nearly five times the $128,000 average cost for the procedure in Ontario. The report also found wait times for some cancer tests and surgeries exceed provincial targets. Additional findings include:
- Wait times for surgery were longer than provincial targets, and varied by region. Urgent surgeries most types of cancer didn’t meet the 14-day wait-time target;
- The average wait time at one hospital for urgent breast cancer surgery was 44 days, but at another hospital 15 kilometres away, the wait was 14 days; and
- Wait times for a CT scan or MRI varied across the province. At one hospital, patients waited up to 49 days for CT scans, while patients waited up to 11 days at a hospital five kilometres away.
The audit also identified gaps in drug coverage and access to support services and other supplementary treatment for cancer patients. Finally, despite spending $1 billion per year on public health initiatives, including $190 million on prevention of chronic disease, the AG found no strategy to guide such efforts and no plan to measure their efficiency.
Related News:
Selon la vérificatrice générale, la plupart des besoins des patients atteints d’un cancer sont comblés, mais il y a des exceptions - Bureau de la vérificatrice générale de l'Ontario
Des dépenses inutiles et un manque de suivi, selon la vérificatrice générale de l’Ontario - TFO
Health audit fails some cancer patients, advocates say - CBC News