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Ontario could save nearly 8,000 lives a year with "modest” improvements in the testing and treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes and coronary heart disease, a new report by the arms-length Ontario Health Quality Council says.

The annual report found less than half of people living with diabetes have their blood sugar under control, and that about half the recommended tests and treatment are being performed. The tests include blood-sugar checks and foot and eye exams, while the treatment includes the recommendation of medicines that lower blood pressure such as ACE inhibitors.

While the province is doing a better job at managing heart disease, the report found only 35 per cent of all patients with coronary artery disease were considered for each of the three possible medications: aspirin, beta-blockers and cholesterol reducing drugs. Women were far less likely than men to be recommended the right medications or to meet their targets for blood-pressure control, the report notes.

One in three Ontarians live with a chronic disease, an illness that people live with for years.

“The simple reality is that Ontario, like many other provinces and countries, is failing to meet the chronic disease challenge,” it states.

“We could be saving close to 8,000 lives a year ... just by achieving modest increases in testing, treating and monitoring people with these chronic diseases.”

The council said Ontario's waiting-times strategy, launched in 2005, has been successful in four priority areas: the wait for cataract surgery has dropped to 118 days from 311; knee replacements to 253 days from 440; hip replacements to 198 days from 351, and cancer surgeries to 57 days from 81.

Waiting times for diagnostic imaging such as CT scans and MRI scans, however, have shown little improvement. In particular, the council said it was “deeply concerned” that although the number of MRI scans has almost doubled, wait times are no shorter.

“Are doctors ordering MRIs when they're not really necessary?” the report asks. “Does a serious shortage of MRI capacity remain?”

More than 60 per cent of Ontarians say they cannot get to see their doctors within two days of becoming sick, the report states. In one bit of good news, the council found that 90 per cent of Ontarians have a family doctor, although 400,000 adults are looking but can't find one.

That number, which eliminates people who seek alternative care or are not looking for a doctor, more than halves the estimated number of “unattached” patients released last week by the Ontario Medical Association – a discrepancy quickly trumpeted by the provincial government.

"We now have a much clearer picture of how many people are actively looking for family health care," Health Minister George Smitherman said in a press release. "With this new information, we will be better able to target the 400,000 Ontarians who are still in need."