Ontario doctor reports three year wait for patient to see ENT
An Ontario doctor is sounding off about the three years one of his patients has to wait to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist.
A year after requesting a consult with an ENT for a patient with hearing loss and tinnitus, or ear ringing, Dr. Mike Hart received a written note from another doctor informing him his patient would likely have to wait over three years to see him.
“Due to an overwhelming number of referrals, the current wait time for non-urgent referral is 36+ months,” the note read.
I referred a patient with hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) to an ENT specialist one year ago.
The ENT specialist got back to me last week and said anything non-urgent is a 3-year+ wait time.
This is Canadian healthcare. pic.twitter.com/IRcBzN6wmB
— Mike Hart, M.D (@drmikehart) July 4, 2024
“There are a lot of people out there who have had something similar happen,” Hart, a London, Ont. physician, told True North in an interview. “Maybe it hasn’t been three years like with that particular patient, but they may have had a situation where they had to wait six months, 12 months, one month, two months.”
