90% of Islanders have a family doctor, says CIHI report

New data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) show Prince Edward Islanders have one of the highest rates of access to a regular family doctor in Canada.

On Thursday, CIHI released new statistical snapshots of health care access across the country, with more detail than ever before.

Family doctor access

According to CIHI, in 2014 90.5 per cent of P.E.I. residents had access to a regular family physician.

The province trailed only New Brunswick and Ontario in that statistical category, and came in higher than the national average of 85.1 per cent.

Joint replacement surgery

The data also show P.E.I. has better access to joint replacement surgery than the country as a whole.

Eighty-nine per cent of Island residents received hip and knee replacements within six months, compared to the national average of 79 per cent.

Lagging behind

In other access areas, P.E.I. lagged behind including wait times to see a specialist, where CIHI found 19.3 per cent of Islander patients had to wait more than three months, compared with the national average of 16.5 per cent.

The agency also found Islanders were more likely to require multiple hospital stays to treat mental illness, with only B.C.'s rate of repeat hospitalizations being higher.

Smoking

Some of the data also suggest Islanders might have more need to visit a family doctor.

According to CIHI, the rate of smoking on P.E.I. at 19.7 per cent continues to be above the national average of 18.1 per cent, though it is trending downwards.

Obesity

And while P.E.I.'s obesity rate of 24.2 per cent is the lowest in Atlantic Canada, it's well above the national average of 20.2 per cent.

Spending

CIHI also found thateven when adjusted for an aging population, P.E.I. spends more annually per person on health care ($4,133) than the national average ($3,914).

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