Not enough MRI machines in region to meet demand, local hospitals say

The backlog of patients waiting for diagnostic scans in Waterloo region has been made worse by the fact there aren't enough MRI machines to meet the community's needs, medical imaging staff at two local hospitals say. 

Grand River Hospital has two MRI machines: one older one — that will soon be taken out of commission for a few months and rebuilt — and a second, newer one that was added earlier this year. There are none at St. Mary's General Hospital. 

While the new machine at Grand River has helped reduce the backlog of patients waiting for scans, Natisha Lal said the hospital still has a wait list of about 2,500 people. The expected wait time for an elective MRI is about five to six months.

"The rate at which the demand is rising — so the volume of requests that come in in a day — we are not able to keep up with at this point," said Lal, the integrated director of medical and diagnostic imaging St. Mary's General and Grand River hospitals.

To make matters more complicated, the lack of an MRI machine at St. Mary's means patients who need an MRI at that hospital must be transferred to Grand River, said Dr. Derek Karanwal, joint chief and medical director of medical imaging for the two hospitals.

Not everyone is medically stable enough to do that, Karanwal said. If a patient can't be transferred, they are often given a CT scan instead — creating a "domino" situation where they take up a CT spot from someone who'd been waiting for one. 

Even if patients are well enough to change facilities, Karanwal said, it takes time and money to make a transfer, even though the two hospitals are less than three kilometres apart. 

"We may need nursing staff to accompany the patient, there is stress and pressure on ambulance services," Karanwal said.

"All this could be avoided if we had an MRI at St Mary's."

Hospitals raising money for new MRI machine

The two hospitals hope to solve that problem by launching a joint fundraising campaign to raise $7.6 million for a new MRI machine at St. Mary's. 

Karanwal said the Ministry of Health has agreed to pay operational costs, but the hospital still needs to buy the machine itself and renovate a space to house it. The two hospitals also hope to raise about $2.4 million to refurbish the older MRI machine at Grand River. 

The expansion of MRI capacity in the region would come as good news to Kathy Lyttle.

The 61-year-old said she was referred for an MRI by the Grand River Hospital stroke clinic last August. She said it took until February for her to get in and have one. 

Lyttle said the wait left her feeling confused and helpless. 

"There is not much you can do about it unless you can afford to go down to the States and pay to get an MRI done at a private clinic there, but that's almost $2,000," Lyttle said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Grand River Hospital said patients with a history of a stroke are typically seen within 10 days, though they couldn't comment on a specific case for privacy reasons. The spokesperson said patients can reach out to the hospital and ask that their case be reviewed if they think the wait for an MRI is taking too long. 

As for Karanwal, he hopes that by this time next year, there will be three fully functional machines between the two hospitals — something he described as a "game changer" for patients. 

"We're going to be in a much better position."