Ontario underestimated cost of clearing surgical backlog: FAO

Clearing the backlog of surgeries in Ontario delayed by COVID-19 will take more than three years and cost the province $1.3 billion — roughly $700 million more than it budgeted. Those numbers are from a new report by the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) of Ontario, which reviewed the Ministry of Health’s spending plans in the […]

Published May 10, 2021 at 11:44am

A surgery is performed at the Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto in 2017. The Ontario Medical Association on Wednesday said Ontario has a backlog of 16 million health-care procedures due to the pandemic. (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star)

Clearing the backlog of surgeries in Ontario delayed by COVID-19 will take more than three years and cost the province $1.3 billion — roughly $700 million more than it budgeted.

Those numbers are from a new report by the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) of Ontario, which reviewed the Ministry of Health’s spending plans in the latest provincial budget.

Since elective surgeries and most diagnostic procedures were halted on April 20 in response to the third wave of COVID cases, the FAO projects that the surgical backlog could increase by 11,152 procedures per week, and the diagnostic backlog by 51,990 per week.