Outrage over Mac Kids wait times

If you have a child waiting for surgery at Hamilton’s McMaster Children’s Hospital, you’re not alone.

Ontario’s health ministry says even though the hospital was converted into a children’s facility, young patients there are waiting longer for procedures than at at any other hospital in the province.

The numbers are pretty surprising. It took 421 days for 90 per cent of kids to get some specific surgeries done in Hamilton – more than double the provincial average. The longest wait is for children’s oral, dental, facial, neck and jaw surgeries.

For general surgeries the numbers are up too. It takes 218 days for nine out of 10 kids to get general surgeries at HHS, compared to 107 days at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. The provincial average is 120 days.

Hospital officials blame the problem on a lack of flexibility within the system.

Video: Cristina Tenaglia reports: