Wait times for diagnostic MRIs have improved by 77 days for most patients within Island Health since the province increased access to the scans, says Health Minister Adrian Dix.
Ninety per cent of Island Health patients now receive a scheduled MRI within 104 days, down 77 days since April 2018 — a reduction of about 43 per cent.
“That is one of the biggest drops,” Dix said.
Half of those waiting for an MRI have one within 45 days, down from 51.
“The data shows wait times for MRIs [are] down considerably,” Dix said. “That’s a significant achievement for everybody who works in this area.”
Across the province, half of patients are now seen within 36 days, down from 48 a year ago, while 90 per cent are seen in 161 days, down from 221.
Magnetic resonance imaging is a diagnostic scan used for soft-tissue injuries such as abnormalities of the brain, tumours, cysts and injuries in other parts of the body.
The province is running 10 of its 33 MRI machines, including two at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and Victoria General Hospital, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in an effort to perform more of the scans and cut wait times.
The effort has cost the province $11 million.
An additional 43,993 MRIs were performed across the province last year — about 7,000 more than targeted. Almost 11,000 of those were within Island Health.
When you provide that many more MRIs, “you’re going to reduce wait times,” Dix said.
Another $5.25 million will go to fund an additional 15,000 MRIs, for a total of 248,369 exams annually in B.C., Dix said.
The increase in access to MRIs and the decrease in wait times for this diagnostic test are part of the government’s multi-year Surgical and Diagnostic Imaging Strategy, which includes running MRI machines for more hours, adding more machines to the current stock and streamlining the booking process.
Nanaimo’s hospital will receive a new MRI machine in 2020.
Part of the impetus for the increase in MRIs was that B.C. had one of the worst wait times on average in the country.
