CALGARY – About 40 per cent of Alberta doctors say they have trouble accessing specialists for their patients, especially orthopedic surgeons and psychiatrists.

The study, conducted by three national physician groups interviewing more than 21,000 doctors across Canada, was released Tuesday.

It found that in Alberta, 38 per cent of physicians have poor access to orthopedic surgeons, while 40 per cent have trouble getting their patients in to psychiatric services.

"Over the past 10 years, us family physicians have been having more and more difficulty getting our patients who require specialty care in," Dr. Catherine Kuzyk said. "It may take up to nine months to get an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, just to get an office consultation.

"And it may take anywhere from three to six months after that to have the surgery done. That's totally unacceptable. And quite often these patients end up going on quite strong medications, often narcotics, while they're waiting to see the specialist."

Dr. Jane Ballantine, president of the Alberta Medical Association, says the problem is going to get worse unless more students are enrolled in medical school.

"It's very concerning, patients' restricted access means that it lowers the quality of care they can be provided, because you're essentially band-aiding, or just carrying the patients until they get the procedure that everybody knows is needed," Ballantine said.