Vancouver Island man frustrated by long wait for cancer surgery

A Vancouver Island man with liver cancer says he's frustrated by the long wait to have his surgery scheduled.

Wolf Clar has a tumour that needs to be removed. He was hoping to be given a surgery date a month ago, but he's still waiting.

"I can't get on with my life because I don't want to miss the phone call," he told CBC News. "I'm feeling fed up with it."

The Clar family was referred to Dr. Darren Biberdorf, a surgical oncologist in Victoria. Biberdorf said the delay is partly due to the nature of the surgery needed by Clar, which requires two surgeons. 

Biberdorf also said the fall is a particularly challenging time to schedule surgeries because there is a backlog of demand resulting from operating rooms functioning at below capacity during the summer due to lower staffing levels. 

"This is an ongoing issue," he said. "We're always challenged with not enough operating time."

But Andrew Longhurst, a researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, believes the problem stems from the fact that surgical services aren't scheduled through a centralized system.

"In B.C. wait lists are managed by an individual surgeon's office and not by the health authority," he said. "So that's why we have incredible inefficiencies and lack of coordinaton."

Longhurst said there is a need for a national framework to reduce wait times.

With files from Ash Kelly