C.A.R.P. SEPTEMBER 2021 CANCER SURVEY

The C.A.R.P. survey respondents in September 2021 (almost 2,200 respondents) said these were the top five key problems with cancer care in Canada:

1. It takes too long to get appointments, tests or procedures for cancer care (46%) 2. There are not enough services available outside of large cities (34%) 3. It takes too long to start treatments from time of diagnosis (31%) 4. We don’t have access in Canada to all the newest cancer treatments (30%) 5. It takes too long to get diagnosed with cancer (30%)

Survey respondents agreed on several key measures governments can adopt to help build better our cancer system:

91% agree that provincial governments should invest more in cancer care to address the increasing needs of patients due to the growing and aging population.

88% agree that provincial governments need to invest more in cancer care and increase services over the pre-pandemic levels to help eliminate backlogs as soon as possible.

87% agree that governments should consider cancer treatments with the same priority they gave to COVID-19 vaccines to make them available to patients as soon as possible.

86% agree that governments should invest more in preventive measures against cancer, including more education on risk factors, public health initiatives and cancer vaccines.

76% think the federal government should increase its share of the financing of provincial healthcare costs to help address backlogs of care and increased health needs due to the aging of the population.