[extropy-chat] Health data

[Ken Kittlitz]

At 11:38 PM 6/16/2006 +0100, Charlie Stross wrote:

>Oh yeah. Last time I had to go see my GP I was sitting in his
>examining room all of five hours after I picked up the phone. I keep
>*hearing* about the alleged one year waiting times, but I've never
>met anyone who actually *did* have to wait a year -- or even a week
>-- to see their GP.

In Canada, wait times for GPs are also not a problem. The problems start 
when you need a more esoteric test, treatment or surgery. *Then*, the wait 
times can easily be six months or more. Of course, if the condition to be 
treated is deemed to be life-threatening, you get higher priority.  The 
trick is to have a doctor that can accurately distinguish the 
life-threatening conditions from the non-life-threatening ones. ;-)

Actually, Canada does have a GP-related problem: there are too few of them. 
Many doctors decide to specialize or move to the U.S. to practice medicine; 
both are more lucrative options than being a GP in Canada.  Those of us 
lucky enough to have GPs rarely have to wait long to see them; those 
without (GPs generally cap the number of patients they'll deal with) use 
the walk-in clinics.
---
Ken Kittlitz          http://www.javien.com