Healthcare in Canada

Canadians Say Main Causes of Mistakes are Government Cutbacks (31%) or Time Pressures (27%) while Victims Say Main Cause is Carelessness (36%)

Toronto, ON - The results of an Ipsos-Reid/CTV poll released today show that Canadians are divided on the issue of whether Canada's healthcare system provides better (42%) or worse (54%) overall care to Canadians than it did ten years ago. The poll also shows that a quarter (24%) of Canadians say that someone among their family and friends has been the victim of a medical procedure mistake by a doctor, nurse or other healthcare worker. Canadians as a whole say that the main causes of medical mistakes are "government cutbacks" (31%) and "time pressures" (27%). In contrast, victims say the main cause for their mistake was "carelessness" (36%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/CTV poll conducted between March 8th and March 10th, 2001. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 803 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data.

Canadians Divided on Whether Canada's System of Healthcare Provides Better (42%) or Worse (54%) Care than 10 Years Ago

When Canadians are asked to think back about whether Canada's healthcare system today is better or worse overall than it was ten years ago, a slim majority (54%) say that the overall care the system provides is worse. This includes 14 percent who say it is "much worse" and another 39 percent who say it is "somewhat worse". In contrast, slightly more than four in ten (42%) say that today's healthcare system provides better care than it did ten years ago - 8 percent "much better"; 34 percent, "somewhat better".

• Alberta is the only province where a majority (57%) of residents say that today's healthcare system provides better care.
• At the other end of the spectrum, nearly two-thirds (64%) of British Columbians say that the current healthcare system provides worse care compared with only 34% who say it provides better care than ten years ago.

A Quarter (24%) of Canadians Say a Friend or Someone in their Family Has Been a Victim of a Medical Procedure Mistake

One in four (24%) Canadians say that someone among their family and friends has been the victim of a medical procedure mistake by a doctor, nurse or other medical worker in the healthcare system. However, most Canadians (76%) say that no one among their family or friends has been the victim of a medical procedure mistake. The most frequently mentioned mistake by those who have friends or family who have been victims is "diagnosing error" (28%). This is followed by: "surgical errors" (13%), "specified surgical procedure" (9%), "procedure errors" (8%) and "errors in reading x-rays, test results" (5%).

• There are no statistically significant regional or demographic variations on this question.

Canadians Say Main Causes of Mistakes are Government Cutbacks (31%) or Time Pressures (27%) while Victims Say Main Cause is Carelessness (36%)

Canadians and victims differ in terms of what they say are the main causes of medical mistakes. When presented with a list of possible causes, Canadians as a whole are most likely to say that mistakes are caused by "government cutbacks" (31%). In contrast, victims are most likely to say that mistakes are caused by "carelessness" (36%) with only 9 percent of victims choosing "government cutbacks".

In addition, Canadians say mistakes are caused by "time pressures" (27%) and "carelessness" (18%) while victims mention "some other reason" (27%) and "time pressures" (15%) as additional causes of mistakes.

• There are no statistically significant regional or demographic variations on this question.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice President
Public Affairs
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900