Alberta heart, cancer patients are waiting too long for serious surgeries, health experts warn

A growing number of Albertans are waiting longer than medically recommended for serious heart and cancer surgeries, raising concerns among health experts and calls for urgent action.

While a record number of surgeries are being performed in the province, the number of people on Alberta’s waiting list is longer than it was two years ago.

and this Latest provincial data (from October 2025) shows that less than two-thirds (61 percent) of patients had their surgeries completed within the recommended time period.

As trends are emerging from the state Pledged to improve surgical vets And as it is emphasizing on using chartered surgical facilities for less complex procedures.

“It scares me a little bit,” said Stacey Litvinchuk, who, as a former senior program officer for surgery operations and head of the Alberta Surgical Initiative for Alberta Health Services, keeps a close eye on the numbers.

Litvinchuk is particularly concerned about heart and cancer patients.

“We’re seeing wait times for cancer surgery and cardiac surgery getting worse. They’re increasing,” said Litvinchuk, who now works as a health care consultant.

The latest figures show that only 11 percent of cardiac bypass (coronary artery bypass graft) surgeries performed in October 2025 were performed within the recommended time frame.

During the same month in 2019, it was 60 percent.

“This is a serious surgery,” Litvinchuk said. “The waiting time window is two weeks or less.”

Instead, he said, some people are waiting months for surgery.

“They could die from their disease…it’s very scary.”

waiting for cancer surgery

Litvinchuk is equally concerned about trends in cancer surgery.

Waits for the top five cancer surgeries (bladder, breast, colorectal, lung and prostate) are also getting worse.

In October 2019, 65 percent of those cancer surgeries were completed within the recommended time.

Six years later, this had dropped to more than half (51 percent).

“If someone with severe cancer is waiting for surgery, their cancer may progress to the point where we can’t treat it,” Litvinchuk said.

For example, according to Litvinchuk, the recommended treatment duration for lung cancer patients is 14 days.

Provincial data shows the average wait (the time it takes for 50 per cent of people to receive surgery) has doubled.

The latest data shows that only 31 percent of patients had prostate cancer surgery within the recommended time.

Breast cancer patients are also facing long wait times.

“We’re behind. We’re not meeting the demand,” said Dr. May Lynn Kwan, a Calgary general surgeon who specializes in breast cancer.

In October 2025, the percentage of breast cancer surgeries performed within clinical targets was 57 percent, compared to 81 percent six years earlier.

According to Kwan, the standard provincial goal for most breast cancer patients (invasive breast cancer) is to have surgery within four weeks.

Many women are waiting twice as long, she said.

“People are scared that this is getting out of control,” Kwan said.

Most breast cancers that are detected early through screening are slow-growing, she said.

“But at some point it does matter… We sometimes find out later that the cancer was more aggressive than we thought. And at some point it breaks away from the breast and spreads to the lymph nodes.”

According to Kwan, hospital staffing and capacity are not keeping up with the growing number of Albertans suffering from cancer.

“What’s worrying to me is that it’s not improving,” Kwan said. “It’s getting worse.”

Chartered Surgical Facilities

These trends are emerging as Alberta and other provinces grapple with a shortage of health-care workers, including anesthesiologistsAnd the provincial government pushes for more procedures like cataract surgery and hip replacement to be performed in chartered surgical facilities.

“They’re not creating any new capacity. They’re just changing capacity,” said Litvinchuk, who argues that this is what’s playing out in the data.

“And what’s being sacrificed with it is access to critical surgeries.”

We need to see immediate action for a truly urgent situation.-Chris Gallaway, Friends of Medicare

The provincial dashboard shows wait times for cataract surgery have improved over time, with 63 per cent of patients having their surgery within target.

Hip replacements have improved slightly, and knee replacements are about the same as they were in 2019.

“Operating rooms in our public hospitals are sitting empty,” said Chris Galloway, executive director of Friends of Medicare.

“Opening a new private center did not create more surgeons or anesthesiologists, pre- and post-care teams and nurses, etc. It simply shifted where the workforce was working.”

Gallaway said he often hears from cancer patients who are shocked by wait times.

“We really need to see immediate action for what is an urgent situation.”

Province says record surgery performed

The Alberta government recognizes it needs to reduce surgical wait times, particularly for cancer.

It said several factors are driving the trends, including a growing and aging population as well as seasonality and fluctuations in operational capacity.

“Last year, Alberta provided the highest annual surgical volume on record,” said Kyle Warner. Press Secretary to the Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services.

318,930 surgeries were completed during the financial year 2024-25. The province is on track to exceed 321,000 this fiscal year, he said.

According to Warner, 62 percent of surgeries during the first three quarters of 2025-26 were completed within the clinically recommended wait time.

He said a record number of cancer surgeries have been performed so far, and the province aims to complete 25,470 by the end of this fiscal year, an increase of eight per cent year-over-year.

“We will continue to invest in Alberta’s surgical capacity,” Warner said, pointing to the government. Plan to provide 50,000 additional surgeries In three years using chartered surgical facilities.

He said $377 million has been earmarked through the Alberta Surgical Initiative to finance more surgeries, as well as $265 million to renovate and expand operating rooms and modernize equipment in public hospitals.

Ministry Did not respond to specific concerns that chartered surgical facilities were taking money and staff away from traditional public hospitals.

Warner said, “We will continue to leverage chartered surgical facilities for lower complexity procedures, so hospitals can focus on urgent and complex cases. Chartered surgical facilities are intended to complement, not replace, hospital-based surgical health services and will improve patient flow and assist in timely access to care.”

“Our government is committed to improving timeliness and access to health care in the province to ensure every Albertan gets the care they need within medically recommended timeframes.”

Meanwhile, Litvinchuk said longer wait times for serious surgeries could put more pressure on already stressed hospitals as more patients would need emergency care.

She is seeking broader commitments from the provincial government, including funding to increase staffing for specific critical surgeries and to open closed operating rooms in Alberta’s public hospitals.

“The investments are simply not in the right place,” he said.