Hip replacement is one of the small number of procedures Canada tracks nationally — a list agreed by first ministers in 2004 that also covers cancer treatment, cardiac care, diagnostic imaging and sight restoration. Every year the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) publishes, for each province, how long half of patients waited and how long the longest-tenth waited between the date surgery was agreed and the operation itself.
This article explains what that measure does and does not include, what the latest published data shows, and why two patients in different provinces can be told very different things. It is information, not advice: your surgeon and your province’s registry know your actual position.
How is a hip replacement wait actually measured in Canada?
CIHI’s indicator counts the days between two dates: the date the patient and the appropriate physician agreed to a total hip replacement and the patient was ready to receive it, and the date the surgery took place. The 50th percentile is the median — half of patients waited fewer days — and the 90th percentile shows the day count that 1 patient in 10 waited as long as or longer than.
Three boundaries of that definition matter when you compare it with your own experience:
- Everything before the decision — the referral from your family doctor, the specialist consultation, the X-rays — happens before the clock starts, so the published numbers understate the journey from a patient’s first GP visit.
- The statistics cover procedures publicly funded under provincial health plans. Surgeries paid privately, whether inside or outside Canada, are not in these figures.
- The indicator includes primary and revision total hip replacements at all priority levels, and excludes emergency cases, cement spacers, elective partial hip replacements, abandoned procedures, and days when the patient was unavailable.
One further detail: CIHI calculates these figures from the first two quarters of the fiscal year (April to September), the national estimate is a volume-weighted average of provincial submissions, and some provinces have small methodology exceptions.
What does the CIHI data show?
The pan-Canadian benchmark for joint replacement, set in 2004, is 26 weeks (182 days) from the ready-to-treat date to surgery. Here is what the latest CIHI data tables show for total hip replacement, by province, in CIHI’s most recent data year, alongside the previous data year’s national figure:
| Province | 50th percentile (days) | 90th percentile (days) | Patients within the 26-week benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada (national, volume-weighted) | 120 | 321 | 69.2% |
| Ontario | 76 | 230 | 83.8% |
| Nova Scotia | 103 | 289 | 77.0% |
| British Columbia | 131 | 356 | 64.1% |
| Alberta | 134 | 406 | 63.0% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 159 | 567 | 55.0% |
| Quebec | 169 | 377 | 54.0% |
| Saskatchewan | 176 | 450 | 51.8% |
| New Brunswick | 179 | 397 | 51.0% |
| Manitoba | 193 | 448 | 47.0% |
| Prince Edward Island | 273 | 515 | 30.5% |
Read three ways. First, the national median of 120 days sits inside the 182-day benchmark, but the 90th percentile of 321 days — more than ten months — sits far outside it, and the median was 125 days the previous data year. Second, the provincial spread is wide: a median of 76 days in Ontario against 273 days on Prince Edward Island in the same data year. Third, benchmark performance runs from roughly 84% within 26 weeks in Ontario to about 31% on Prince Edward Island. None of this is a verdict on the surgery in any province; it measures queue length.
For context, the national volume for this data year was 28,463 publicly funded hip replacement cases, with Ontario (11,952) and Quebec (4,790) the largest contributors.
Why do waits differ so much between provinces?
Each province runs its own surgical system and registry, so capacity, funding, operating-room allocation and prioritisation all differ. Geography adds a layer: smaller provinces have fewer surgical teams per patient, and remote-region patients can wait longer than those in major cities. CIHI’s own caveat — that provincial methodologies can differ slightly — is worth remembering when two provinces look far apart on paper.
These statistics also describe only the publicly funded queue. Some Canadians pay privately for faster surgery where provinces permit it, and others look outside the country altogether; none of that appears in the CIHI tables, so the published figures describe the public system, not every pathway a patient might take.
How do priority categories affect your place in the queue?
Every provincial registry asks the treating surgeon to assign an urgency or priority level when a case is added to the list — a patient with severe pain that limits walking or work is generally placed in a more urgent category than one with milder symptoms, and more urgent cases are scheduled ahead of routine ones. Hip replacement is by nature one of the more deferrable operations, which is why its waits are measured and published at all: the 2004 agreement singled it out as a procedure where queues had grown long and measurable. Your own wait is therefore a clinical judgement recorded when you are listed — not a statistic — and it can be revisited with your surgeon if your symptoms change.
What can you do while you wait?
Start with your treating team. If your pain has worsened since you were listed, say so at your next appointment — priority decisions are clinical and can be reviewed. Keep copies of your imaging reports and clinic letters, because whatever you decide later, those documents are what any second reviewer will need.
An independent written second opinion is something patients arrange entirely from home: a specialist relevant to your condition reviews the reports you already have and answers, in writing, whether the advised operation is the standard approach for your case, what the alternatives are, and what questions are worth taking back to your own surgeon. It does not replace your treating doctor and does not affect your place in any queue. If it is useful, ours is a $150 written second opinion, with every fee published before you share a single report; the second opinion service page explains how it works.
We have written more about the waiting window itself in Waiting for Elective Surgery? What a Written Second Opinion Settles Before You Decide Anything. And if the wait leads you to compare options abroad, our practical guide from Canada covers visas, flights and paying a hospital from abroad.
Sources
- Wait Times for Hip Replacement (Percentiles) — CIHI Indicator Library. Defines the measure used in this article (days from the date the patient and physician agreed to a total hip replacement and were ready for it to the surgery date; 50th and 90th percentile definitions; the 26-week/182-day benchmark; calculation from the first two quarters of the fiscal year; all priority levels; data availability fiscal years 2008 to 2025, results updated June 2026). Accessed 4 October 2026.
- Wait times for priority procedures in Canada, 2008–2025 — Data tables (CIHI). The provincial and national figures cited throughout: data year 2025 hip replacement 50th/90th percentile waits (national 120 and 321 days; Ontario 76, PEI 273, and the other provinces as tabulated), benchmark percentages (national 69.2%), volumes (national 28,463), and the previous data year (2024) national median of 125 days. Figures read via the Internet Archive copy of 18 July 2026, as the CIHI site blocks automated access. Accessed 4 October 2026.