Access and wait times for health care in Canada is a problem. When it comes to addiction and mental health treatment, the Canadian system falls short of serving those who need care, and those who do receive services often wait longer than established wait time standards. Some outcomes of waiting are already known, including worsening health and disengagement with treatment.
Substance use is a serious problem that has extreme effects on individuals, families and society. Long term substance abuse can predict long term problems, such as poor school success, poor employment outcome and mental health issues. Intervention early on can minimize these impacts on people and their families but effective treatment may not be a reality for addicts, due to access and extensive wait time issues.
One in four people experience mental health issues and more than one in twenty misuse
substances, less than half of the people who experience problems seek help, and less than one quarter who need help receive treatment services.
Waiting for treatment has been seen as one of the reasons for lack of access to service. People waiting for treatment continue to struggle with substance use and mental health issues, including running away, trouble with police or being homeless.
To answer the questions ‘What happens when families wait for treatment’, the answer I found
was that harmful effects of waiting left families and already highly vulnerable people
susceptible to significant further harms, with ripple effects on communities. People who seek
intensive treatment are often the most vulnerable, while problems that worsen when waiting
periods defer necessary treatment. Waiting for effective treatment runs a high risk of making a bad situation even worse.
Comments