Canada ranks last in an international comparison that looks at how quickly patients can get in to see their family doctors.

Only 41 per cent of Canadians can get an appointment the same day or next with their primary care provider, according to a new report from the Health Council of Canada, released Monday. There has been no improvement on the measure in the last decade.

“We show largely disappointing performance compared to other high-income countries, some of which have made impressive progress,” states the report that compares the health systems of 11 OECD counties.

Germany ranks first with 76 per cent of residents able to get quick access to family doctors and nurses.

The measurement is an important one because if the primary care system does not work well, pressure is brought to bear on other parts of the health system, explained Mark Dobrow, the council’s director of analysis and reporting.

For example, when patients can’t get in to see their family doctor, they often resort to hospital emergency departments, contributing to long waits there.

Not surprisingly, Canada ranked last on that measure, too — by a long shot. Some 26 per cent of people reported they had waited more than four hours to be treated in an ER. Next worse was Sweden, where 15 per cent of respondents waited that long. The Netherlands was the best performer with 1 per cent facing such waits.

The report is based on data from the internationally respected Commonwealth Fund health policy survey.

It shows that 60 per cent of Canadians wait more than a month to see a specialist. And when they finally get in, they often discover that their family doctor has not sent over lab results.

“Although Canadians have more confidence in the health-care system, access to care has not substantially improved and patients are not reporting that their care is better integrated or more patient-centred,” states the report, which measures progress over the last decade.

It also compares the provinces to each other and shows great disparities across the country.

On Ontario’s performance, it shows the following:

11 per cent of Ontarians did not fill a prescription or skipped doses in the previous month because they couldn’t afford the drugs.

33 per cent of residents have access to lab and test results via mail, email or online.

54 per cent feel their doctor spends enough time with them during appointments.

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32 per cent reported that their family doctors’ office were aware they had recently had to go to the ER.

This is one of the last reports to be issued by the Health Council. It has been forced to close its doors because of the controversial decision by the federal government to stop funding it.