When Patricia Riley was diagnosed with colon cancer in May, she initially felt devastated.
But because the disease was caught early, the 51-year-old felt like she had won the cancer lottery.
“I was a cancer patient who was actually happy, thinking I had the best case scenario,” recalls Riley, who works as a civil servant in Ottawa.
The cancer was localized and had not spread to her liver or lymph nodes – meaning the chances are good that she will beat this potentially deadly disease.
She said doctors at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) initially planned to surgically remove part of her colon within four to six weeks.
That period has since come and gone, and Riley is still waiting.
Riley says her cancer is currently located in her colon. She worries that the cancer will spread while she waits for surgery. (Jean Delil/CBC)
Riley is among the many Ontarians affected by the staggering hospital backlog exacerbated by the pandemic, which by May had piled up to one million queue operationsaccording to the Ontario Medical Association.
While the most serious gastrointestinal cancer patients are designated as a priority cohort eligible for immediate surgeries, Ontario Health says those with less urgent needs should still receive surgery within a target of two to 12 weeks.
Riley said she now spends her days waiting by the phone at her home in Orleans Township, hoping to win what has become a hospital lottery for last-minute canceled surgeries.
“It literally feels like a ticking time bomb,” Riley said of her cancer. “Every day you wonder is it today? Is it tomorrow? Is it next week? When does your luck run out?”
Not all patients were seen within the target waiting time
According to Ontario Health, about a quarter of gastrointestinal cancer patients waited longer than the target wait time for surgery across the province between January and March 2022.
Gastrointestinal cancer patients waiting for surgery at the Ottawa Hospital waited slightly longer than the provincial average — about a week longer for those at the lower end of the priority.
The Ottawa hospital attributed some of the problem to the pandemic, but told the CBC it is working with the Ministry of Health and other regional health partners to increase operating room capacity.
“If a patient’s condition worsens, they should contact their care provider immediately,” a spokesperson for the Ottawa hospital wrote in an emailed statement.
“If they are deemed to require emergency surgery, they will be seen as soon as possible.
More staff needed to clear backlog: lawyer
Barry Stein, president of Colorectal Cancer Canada, said the stress of waiting for surgery has a huge impact on patients and their families.
A colorectal cancer survivor himself, Stein said the problem appears to be a shortage of hospital staff.
“It seems that the lack of available staff is a consequence of not only more operations, but people are just exhausted,” he said.
Stein said he wants to see hospitals use the pandemic as a learning experience and take preventative measures to deal with future crises — starting with staff.
“Building health care resilience into our systems is really a longer-term plan, but something we need to work on immediately,” he said.
Stein urged governments to increase the capacity of the health system and find ways to allocate resources more efficiently. He said that includes increasing preventive care measures such as cancer screening to reduce the number of people who end up needing advanced surgical care.
Filing a complaint against TOH
For Patricia Riley in Ottawa, she said unless there is a last-minute opening, doctors at the TOH Cancer Center have now told her to expect her surgery sometime in August or September — more than double the original expected wait time.
She said she is filing a complaint through the hospital’s patient relations department in hopes of securing an earlier date.
The experience has left her feeling alone in her battle with cancer – she’s not so lucky anymore.
“If surgeons are telling the hospital there’s a backlog, why isn’t that enough?” Riley said.
“Why should patients at the worst time of our lives … turn to the hospital and advocate for it?”
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