{
  "id": "surgery-waiting-list-weeks",
  "parent": "scheduled-surgery-wait",
  "category": "Health care access",
  "title": "Size of the surgery waiting list, in weeks of surgeries",
  "geography": "Island Health, with Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals, compared with British Columbia",
  "scope": "region",
  "levels": [
    "Provincial (health authority)"
  ],
  "plain_question": "If no one new joined the list, how many weeks of surgeries at this year's pace would it take to get through everyone waiting?",
  "value": 17.3,
  "display_value": "17.3",
  "unit": "weeks of surgeries on the list",
  "period": "Fiscal year 2025/26 (list on March 31, 2026)",
  "period_start": "2025-04-01",
  "period_end": "2026-03-31",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "Fiscal year 2024/25",
    "previous_value": 19.1,
    "change_percent": -9.6
  },
  "since_text": "Was 19.1 in 2024/25. Royal Jubilee 14.2, Victoria General 22.0, B.C. 17.6",
  "trend": "improving",
  "trend_basis": "Island Health: 19,457 people waiting at year end and 58,424 surgeries done in 2025/26, so the list equals 17.3 weeks of surgeries, compared with 19.1 in 2024/25 (-9.6%). Royal Jubilee 14.2 weeks, Victoria General 22.0 weeks (was 16.0 in 2017/18), all of B.C. 17.6 weeks.",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "A lower number means the waiting list is smaller compared with how many surgeries are done in a year. This is not anyone's actual wait; see Weeks waiting for surgery for that.",
  "caveats": [
    "Not anyone's actual wait. It is the size of the list compared with a year of surgeries. Actual waits are on the Weeks waiting for surgery page.",
    "Calculated here: people waiting on March 31 divided by the surgeries completed during the fiscal year, times 52.",
    "All procedures are combined, from cataracts to cancer surgery, so a change in the mix of procedures can move it.",
    "The waiting count starts when the hospital receives the booking form from the surgeon. The earlier wait to see the specialist is not in this data.",
    "Island Health hospitals also treat people from outside Greater Victoria."
  ],
  "charts": [
    {
      "title": "Waiting list size, in weeks of surgeries (not anyone's actual wait)",
      "fmt": "dec1",
      "unit": "weeks",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "Island Health (all hospitals)",
          "area": "island",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2017/18",
              "value": 20.1
            },
            {
              "period": "2018/19",
              "value": 17.8
            },
            {
              "period": "2019/20",
              "value": 20.8
            },
            {
              "period": "2020/21",
              "value": 17.2
            },
            {
              "period": "2021/22",
              "value": 16.9
            },
            {
              "period": "2022/23",
              "value": 17.7
            },
            {
              "period": "2023/24",
              "value": 20.2
            },
            {
              "period": "2024/25",
              "value": 19.1
            },
            {
              "period": "2025/26",
              "value": 17.3
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Royal Jubilee Hospital",
          "area": "island",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2017/18",
              "value": 19.7
            },
            {
              "period": "2018/19",
              "value": 17.4
            },
            {
              "period": "2019/20",
              "value": 19.4
            },
            {
              "period": "2020/21",
              "value": 16.8
            },
            {
              "period": "2021/22",
              "value": 15.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2022/23",
              "value": 16.5
            },
            {
              "period": "2023/24",
              "value": 18.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2024/25",
              "value": 14.6
            },
            {
              "period": "2025/26",
              "value": 14.2
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Victoria General Hospital",
          "area": "island",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2017/18",
              "value": 16.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2018/19",
              "value": 15.5
            },
            {
              "period": "2019/20",
              "value": 20.1
            },
            {
              "period": "2020/21",
              "value": 17.4
            },
            {
              "period": "2021/22",
              "value": 19.3
            },
            {
              "period": "2022/23",
              "value": 20.4
            },
            {
              "period": "2023/24",
              "value": 23.1
            },
            {
              "period": "2024/25",
              "value": 21.8
            },
            {
              "period": "2025/26",
              "value": 22.0
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "All of B.C.",
          "area": "bc",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2017/18",
              "value": 19.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2018/19",
              "value": 18.1
            },
            {
              "period": "2019/20",
              "value": 19.6
            },
            {
              "period": "2020/21",
              "value": 18.5
            },
            {
              "period": "2021/22",
              "value": 18.4
            },
            {
              "period": "2022/23",
              "value": 17.7
            },
            {
              "period": "2023/24",
              "value": 18.1
            },
            {
              "period": "2024/25",
              "value": 17.1
            },
            {
              "period": "2025/26",
              "value": 17.6
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "calc": {
    "formula": "Weeks of surgeries on the list = people waiting at the end of the fiscal year ÷ surgeries completed in that year × 52.",
    "steps": [
      "Island Health (all hospitals), 2025/26: 19,457 ÷ 58,424 × 52 = 17.3 weeks.",
      "Royal Jubilee Hospital, 2025/26: 3,976 ÷ 14,532 × 52 = 14.2 weeks.",
      "Victoria General Hospital, 2025/26: 3,438 ÷ 8,131 × 52 = 22.0 weeks.",
      "All of B.C., 2025/26: 97,963 ÷ 289,315 × 52 = 17.6 weeks."
    ],
    "inputs": [
      {
        "name": "BC Surgical Wait Times, annual file (cases waiting and cases completed, all procedures)",
        "agency": "B.C. Ministry of Health",
        "url": "https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/7c1bf2a8-96bb-4ad5-888d-a90672eb306e/resource/6cd508eb-7e31-4c86-b070-dc698131fa9a/download/2009_2026-annual-surgical_wait_times.xlsx",
        "dataset_url": "https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/bc-surgical-wait-times",
        "licence": {
          "name": "Open Government Licence - British Columbia",
          "url": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content?id=A519A56BC2BF44E4A008B33FCF527F61"
        },
        "period": "2017/18 to 2025/26",
        "data_published": "2026-08-12"
      },
      {
        "name": "Same file: B.C. total (all health authorities) for comparison",
        "agency": "B.C. Ministry of Health",
        "url": "https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/7c1bf2a8-96bb-4ad5-888d-a90672eb306e/resource/6cd508eb-7e31-4c86-b070-dc698131fa9a/download/2009_2026-annual-surgical_wait_times.xlsx",
        "dataset_url": "https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/bc-surgical-wait-times",
        "licence": {
          "name": "Open Government Licence - British Columbia",
          "url": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content?id=A519A56BC2BF44E4A008B33FCF527F61"
        },
        "period": "2017/18 to 2025/26",
        "data_published": "2026-08-12"
      }
    ]
  },
  "refresh_frequency": "Annually (quarterly interim files during the year)",
  "source": {
    "name": "Calculated here from B.C. Ministry of Health data",
    "url": "https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/7c1bf2a8-96bb-4ad5-888d-a90672eb306e/resource/6cd508eb-7e31-4c86-b070-dc698131fa9a/download/2009_2026-annual-surgical_wait_times.xlsx",
    "dataset_url": "https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/bc-surgical-wait-times"
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Open Government Licence - British Columbia",
    "url": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content?id=A519A56BC2BF44E4A008B33FCF527F61"
  },
  "derived": true,
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-11T07:43:50Z",
  "data_published": "2026-08-12",
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2017/18",
      "value": 20.1
    },
    {
      "period": "2018/19",
      "value": 17.8
    },
    {
      "period": "2019/20",
      "value": 20.8
    },
    {
      "period": "2020/21",
      "value": 17.2
    },
    {
      "period": "2021/22",
      "value": 16.9
    },
    {
      "period": "2022/23",
      "value": 17.7
    },
    {
      "period": "2023/24",
      "value": 20.2
    },
    {
      "period": "2024/25",
      "value": 19.1
    },
    {
      "period": "2025/26",
      "value": 17.3
    }
  ]
}