Colonoscopy Wait Times

Understanding Colonoscopy Wait Times

Colonoscopy services are provided at 12 acute care hospitals across the province.

Colonoscopy is used to screen for a variety of diseases, including colon cancer. Symptomatic patients with a high likelihood of cancer or inflammatory bowel disease based on clinical assessment may require a colonoscopy. A patient will be referred by a primary care physician to a specialist (gastroenterologist, internist, and surgeon) who will determine if the patient needs to undergo a colonoscopy procedure.

The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG) represents more than 1,100 members across Canada, including physicians, basic scientists, and affiliated health care providers who work in the field of gastroenterology. This group is involved in research, education and patient care in all areas of digestive health and disease.

http://www.cag-acg.org/index.php

While there are no national benchmarks for colonoscopy, in 2006 the Canadian Association of Gastroenterologists (CAG) developed a set of consensus based access targets to identify medically acceptable wait time targets for colonoscopy.

An urgency classification is used by the specialist to determine the priority and the medically recommended timeframe in which patients should have their colonoscopy completed.