Overwhelming Majority of Canadians Calling for Health-Care Reform: Poll

More than 90 percent of Canadians want to see immediate and extensive change within the country’s health-care system and 70 percent are “worried” or “frustrated” by the existing conditions, a new survey suggests.

A recent poll conducted by Nanos Research for the consulting firm Santis Health found that 91 percent of respondents say Canada’s health-care system requires reform. Another 55 percent say the system is not only off track but is heading in the wrong direction, 39 percent expressed feelings of worry about the system’s condition, and 31 percent reported feelings of frustration.

Just 14 percent reported feeling confident in Canada’s health-care system and only 12 percent said they felt hopeful.

Santis Health managing partner Patrick Nelson said the survey results show a clear desire for a system overhaul across the country.

“Nine in ten Canadians calling for system change is not a nudge, it’s a mandate. It’s a wake up call and importantly, ‘permission’ for decision-makers to move faster and further to innovate and do things differently,” Nelson said. “Canadians are ready and willing to change. The system and governments now have a license or even, an obligation, to lead it.”

The call for change was high across all regions of the country. Ninety-six percent of British Columbia residents said it was either important or somewhat important for the country’s health-care system to change, followed by more than 94 percent of Atlantic Canadians, 92 percent of Quebecers, and 89 percent of those living in Ontario or the prairies.

Sixty-two percent of respondents in the prairies said health care is moving in the wrong direction, followed by 57.5 percent of individuals from Ontario, nearly 57 percent of residents in British Columbia, 51 percent of Quebecers, and 40 percent of those from Atlantic Canada.

Quebec residents were the most apt to feel worried about the country’s health-care system at just shy of 45 percent, while Atlantic Canadians were the most likely to feel hopeful at 26.4 percent.

Feelings of worry or frustration were relatively even across both genders and Canadians younger than 55. While older Canadians also expressed worry and frustration with the current system they were slightly less likely to do so than their younger counterparts.

The primary concern expressed by survey participants was lengthy wait times for care, accounting for 25.5 percent, followed by poor access to services at 12 percent, a shortage of health-care workers at 11.5 percent, and a lack of family doctors at 8 percent.

Appetite for Digital and Delivery Changes

Eighty-one percent of those surveyed indicated their support for the modernization of care delivery methods, including the expansion of virtual care and the implementation of additional digital tools.

Ninety-five percent said they would be “open” or “somewhat open” to receiving routine care and prescriptions from qualified health-care providers other than doctors, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or pharmacists.

On the digital front, 82 percent of Canadians said they would like the opportunity to access a secure “digital health wallet” that they personally own and 67 percent said they would be “open” or “somewhat open” to having health-care providers use AI to assist with diagnosis, treatment plans, and to help keep up with changing information.

Participants were asked to provide one piece of advice to improve the system other than increasing government spending and 9.3 percent of respondents advocated for an increase in public funding and ensuring the protection of public delivery.

Health-care is primarily the responsibility of Canada’s provinces and territories. They handle the management, organization, and delivery of health services, including hospitals, doctor regulations, and deciding which medical services are publicly covered. While provinces run the systems, the federal government helps with funding through the Canada Health Transfer (CHT).

Ottawa delivered an unconditional $2 billion payment to provinces and territories via the CHT in 2023. This top-up was designed to alleviate urgent system pressures like emergency room backlogs and pediatric hospital strains, and was paired with new decade-long bilateral agreements with the provinces.

Alongside the top-up and the bilateral deals, the government committed to a guaranteed 5 percent annual growth to the CHT for five years.

Another suggestion for change suggested by 7.5 percent of respondents was expanding private options.

Canadians as a whole were open to private care playing a role in the system, the report said. Thirty-one percent of those polled said health care should be delivered through a combination of public and private services, whereas 35 percent believed it should primarily be managed by the public system, with a minor role for private care.

An additional 60 percent of respondents said they would be “open” or “somewhat open” to private organizations delivering publicly funded surgeries and diagnostic tests.