Everyone in B.C. deserves timely access to the Specialist Care they need.
Behind every number on the waitlist is a real patient’s story. Waiting for care has devastating effects: jobs are left unfinished, milestones are missed, patients are left with anxiety, fear, and uncertainty while suffering escalating symptoms.
This staggering backlog exists as our government continues to ignore solutions, leaving British Columbia’s most vulnerable patients waiting.
Help Spread The Word: Please share online using #EveryNumberIsAStory and #BCPoli
When a health issue becomes complex or needs a specific type of expertise, your primary care physician will likely refer you to a Specialist.
Specialist physicians—such as Cardiologists, Dermatologists, Neurosurgeons and Obstetrician-Gynecologists—play an essential role in our health system. With deep expertise in specific areas of the body or disease types, they diagnose, treat, and help patients manage complex, chronic, and often debilitating health challenges. They care for British Columbia’s sickest, most complex, and vulnerable patients.
In Canada, Specialists are certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. To practice in B.C., they must also be licensed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia.
Consultant Specialists of BC (cSBC) is an independent organization that represents the B.C. Specialist physician perspective in advocating for critical issues to health stakeholders, including the B.C. Government, Doctors of BC, BC Family Doctors, College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC and joint committees within government. Learn more.
cSBC represents 34 groups of Specialists.
7,767 Specialist physicians are working in B.C.
The waitlist to see a Specialist has grown by 20% in just two years.
British Columbians are facing an unprecedented crisis in access to Specialty Care that the province simply cannot afford, yet Budget 2026 allocates zero funding to address the 1.2 million people currently stuck on waitlists. Without immediate decisive action and investment from the government, B.C.’s Specialty Care system is at risk of failure.
Through #EveryNumberIsAStory, cSBC continues to advocate for the timely care patients deserve by presenting actionable, immediate, and long-term solutions to empower Specialists and cut wait times:
Create a province-wide Specialist practice database detailing practice demographics, waitlist sizes, and wait times that is updated in real time. The database would provide a useful, data-informed view of Specialist access across British Columbia to: quantify the scale of waiting, reveal geographic and Specialty gaps, track trends over time, enable targeted policy and resourcing decisions, and measure the impact of interventions.
Remunerate Active Waitlist Management: Remunerate Specialists for the time spent reviewing, triaging, and optimizing their waitlists so they can integrate waitlist management into their regular workflow.
Create a new mechanism to support patients with their Family Doctors: Recognize and formalize a process for Specialists to provide written advice to primary care providers in lieu of a formal consultation.
Help Spread The Word: Please share online using #EveryNumberIsAStory and #BCPoli
What is clear is that patients are waiting far too long to access the Specialist Care they need. Prolonged waits drive overcrowded emergency departments, increased hospital admissions, repeat unnecessary referrals, added costs, and more pressure on our primary care system.
Read some of the recent stories about patients being affected in B.C.:
Help Spread The Word: Please share online using #EveryNumberIsAStory and #BCPoli
cSBC is collecting patient stories to help advocate for better care and address the Specialist access crisis in our province. Share your story below and be sure your voice is heard!
Privacy Notice: Your personal information is being collected for the purposes of enabling you to get involved with the initiative and sharing your story. All data entered will be anonymized by first name and last initial before being published. Data entered in this form may be transmitted and stored outside of Canada in accordance to our privacy policy. Please do not share any confidential or compromising information about yourself. Questions about the handling of your personal information can be directed to admin@specialistsofbc.org.
