FOI Request

FOI Request 

October 08, 2025

Sukhman Kaur 

9357 133A street , 

Surrey , BC V3V 5R6

sukhmankaur3@student.kpu.ca 

7789265419 

October 7, 2025 

FOI Operations

Information Access Operations

Ministry of Citizens’ Services (for the Ministry of Health)

Government of British Columbia

PO Box 9569 Stn Prov Govt

Victoria, BC V8W 9K1

To whom it may concern, 

Under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act of British Columbia, I request that you provide me with:

All records and statistical data showing the average wait times for non emergency (elective) surgeries in British Columbia hospitals, broken down :

1 by year for each of the past five calendar years (2020-2025) and 

2 by regional health authority , including Fraser health , Vancouver Coastal Health, Island health, Northern health and interior health. 

If available, please include tables or spreadsheets showing yearly averages and medians for each region, along with any internal explanatory notes .

If some portions of the requested records are exempt from disclosure, send me what you legally can — and please email me the files instead of printing them 

Please contact me at (sukhmankaur3@student.kpu.ca) if clarification is needed.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Sincerely,

Sukhman Kaur

FOI coordinator Contact page 

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure/ministries-organizations/ministries/citizens-services/ministry-contacts

explanation(reason for request) 

I am requesting this information to determine whether wait times for non-emergency surgeries in British Columbia have changed between 2020 and 2025, and whether specific health authorities experience longer delays. While the BC government’s Surgical Wait Times portal provides recent snapshots of elective surgery wait times, it does not offer full historical year-by-year breakdowns. 

Recent media coverage highlights continuing challenges: for example, a CityNews article reports that in 2024, despite more surgeries being performed, wait times are still longer than in 2019.

A Fraser Institute commentary also notes that the median wait for surgical care in B.C. was 25.8 weeks, indicating longer waits than what might be medically appropriate. 

By obtaining the Ministry’s full data, I hope to analyze whether wait times have improved, worsened, or remained stable across the province and pinpoint which areas are most affected.

Sources : 

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/surgical-wait-times

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/06/11/more-surgeries-performed-but-wait-times-still-longer-than-before-pandemic-study-says/

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/commentary/bcs-health-care-wait-times-only-getting-longer

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