It’s a byproduct of our aging society.  Canadians received more joint replacements and other priority procedures in 2012 than in any other year, but a new report says there was no overall reduction in wait times for the treatments.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information report shows that close to 540-thousand Canadians had priority surgical procedures and specialized treatments last year.

That’s an increase of more than 20-thousand than in 2011.

Government wait-time targets set in 2004 for bypass surgery, hip and knee replacements, hip fracture repair and cataract surgery still aren’t being met.

Only radiation therapy surpassed the 90 per cent target, with 97 per cent of patients getting treatment within the recommended 28 days.