What are the wait times for mental-health services?
An investigation by the Globe and Mail (In the dark: The cost of Canada's data deficit) revealed several gaps in Canadian information that can be essential to inform policy and best practices.
One of the data gaps identified is related to wait-times for mental health.
From the article:
Reporting on wait times for mental-health services lacks consistency; we don’t have a number for the national average, nor is this information captured in one place, says the Canadian Mental Health Association.
“That’s a huge gap, because what we know about mental illnesses is [that] when it goes untreated, it only gets worse with time,” said Fardous Hosseiny, the CMHA’s national director of research and public policy. “There needs to be some way of tracking it, because once we track it, we know where to invest.”
The Canadian Institute for Health Information is working with the provinces to collect this data, but it will take several years. Britain collects and publishes data on access to and wait times for mental-health services.
Simon, great posting. There are quite few mental health related data gatherings missing. I will use the information in the post to make suggestions. The positive side is more and more organizations are open for input and ore willing to listen to the public voice. Thank you for sharing!