A survey conducted by Doctors of B.C. and Consultant Specialists of B.C. finds specialist waitlists grew by 10 per cent from 2024 to 2025.
The groups said more than 1,000 specialists and family physicians were surveyed.
About 70 per cent of specialists reported having a longer waitlist over the course of the year.
Eighty per cent believed B.C. lacks an adequate number of specialists to meet the population’s health demands.
A large majority of specialists and physicians said long waitlists are contributing to burnout, anxiety and moral distress.
Dr. Robert Carruthers, a Vancouver-based neurologist and president of Consultant Specialists of B.C., says the growing gaps are driven largely by population growth over the past decade and an aging population.
Provincial data shows B.C.’s seniors population grew by 38 per cent between 2016 and 2025.
“Unfortunately we are unprepared as a society for this ramp up in the need for medical care,” said Carruthers.
“Right now, there’s 1.2 million or more people waiting to see a specialist, and even if we had more than a thousand new specialists to start working on this backlog, it would still take a great deal of time,” he said.
Doctors of B.C. said wait times for urgent cases averaged four weeks, while patients with non-urgent cases could wait 10 months. Wait-lists for specialties such as cardiology, neurology and orthopedics stretched beyond 12 months on average.
The survey found more than a third of specialists said they have either closed their practice to new referrals or are considering doing so in the next year.
“For more urgent issues, the system is still working fairly well, said Carruthers.
“As this worsens, the access to specialist care, particularly for non-urgent issues, is going to plummet significantly,” he said.
Carruthers said he is concerned that could lead to issues like a delayed diagnosis for cancer if a patient isn’t correctly triaged in the system.
He said it ultimately puts more pressure on emergency rooms and family doctors.
Doctors of B.C. has negotiated a plan with the B.C. government for a provincial waitlist management program aimed at making the system more efficient and generating data on waitlists, but it’s waiting on the province to implement it.
B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said in an emailed statement she recognizes the pressures facing physicians and the health-care system.
“We are working closely with physicians to improve access to specialist care, modernize referral pathways, reduce administrative burden and strengthen the specialist workforce.” said Osborne. “We have made significant investments to recruit and retain physicians, expand medical training, improve access to diagnostic services and build a stronger health-care system for the future.”
She noted the recent renewal of a four-year agreement with Doctors of B.C, that included targeted funding for certain specialties and increased compensation for after-hours specialist services.
“There is more work to do, and we remain committed to working collaboratively with Doctors of BC, physicians and health-system partners to ensure people in British Columbia can access the specialist care they need, when they need it,” said Osborne.
B.C.’s Health Ministry pointed to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information showing that B.C.’s specialist supply increased by nearly 1,800 between 2018 and 2024, more than any other province.
B.C. Conservative health critic Anna Kindy said growing waitlists are “the predictable result of years of NDP mismanagement.”
“On top of everything, this government is not tracking the wait time to see nonsurgical speciality. How can you resource healthcare without proper data?” she said.
